HK woman jailed in US$850,000 New Zealand drug smuggling case
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 29 July, 2014, 3:38am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 29 July, 2014, 3:38am
Samuel Chan [email protected]
A 25-year-old Hong Kong visitor Ka Po-ching has been sentenced to 10 years in jail after New Zealand Customs linked her to methamphetamine found hidden in imported statues.
A Hong Kong woman who tried to smuggle US$850,000 worth of methamphetamine into New Zealand hidden in a statue has been jailed for 10 years by an Auckland court.
Ching Ka-po, 25, pleaded guilty to two charges of importing the drug known as Ice. Auckland District Court told her she must serve four years in prison before parole is considered. She will be deported on release.
New Zealand Customs said yesterday that the case centred on a 30cm statue of the ancient general Guan Yu - ironically, considered a "patron saint" by both police and triads in Hong Kong - contained in a glass case and delivered by courier from Hong Kong on January 3.
The statue came to the attention of customs officers and 993 grams of Ice, with a street value of US$850,000 at New Zealand prices, was found stuffed inside.
Investigators focused on Ching, who arrived in the country on December 27. She was arrested at a flat she rented in central Auckland. Customs said she was linked to other, similar cases.
Investigator Maurice O'Brien said it was not unusual for syndicates in New Zealand to recruit people abroad and pay for them to travel to and live in the country to receive and deliver drugs.
It is the latest in a series of international drug-smuggling cases to involve Hongkongers.
Last month, two Hong Kong men were involved in South Africa's biggest ever drug bust.
The pair were arrested in Durban on June 25 after police seized pure heroin powder worth more than US$190 million and manufacturing equipment in a house near the coast following tip-offs.
The arrests, along with high-profile drug seizures at home, prompted fears the city was becoming a centre for the drugs trade, a claim customs rejects.
Hong Kong customs and police refused to comment on individual cases. Asked whether it had been involved in the arrest, a customs spokesman said: "We do not comment on intelligence exchange between law enforcement agencies."
