I am a 22-year-old from Ipoh, Malaysia. My father has always been the only breadwinner of our family, so we never had much money. When I was 13 years old, I started working without an education. In June 2017, I went to Kuala Lumpur to work because my salary had not been satisfactory.
In November that same year, a friend of mine told me there was a way to earn money quickly so I went to meet that person.
After we spoke, I realised it was about trafficking drugs. I refused immediately. Later, he found out that I had travelled to Hong Kong previously and said I didn’t need to carry drugs, I only needed to bring the others to Hong Kong. For that, I could get MYR 15,000 and complimentary plane tickets. I thought that if I didn’t need to traffic drugs I would be fine, so I accepted.
…he found out that I had travelled to Hong Kong previously and said I didn’t need to carry drugs, I only needed to bring the others to Hong Kong. For that, I could get MYR 15,000 and complimentary plane tickets. I thought that if I didn’t need to traffic drugs I would be fine…
The beginning of the end
I returned to my job and waited for his call. In the early morning of November 28, that man found me and asked me to send him a passport photo. He said he would help me buy a plane ticket. Then he asked me to go to a certain hotel at midnight. Since that day was my day off, I had returned to Ipoh to celebrate my mother’s birthday. It was past 1 am when I arrived at that hotel.
After I went in, I saw five men whom I did not know sitting inside. Two hours later, three more people entered carrying two red bags. They opened the two red bags, and there were a few dozens of packages with white powder. After a while, I saw that the other five men entered the room and wrapped the packaged white powder onto their feet. I was the only one who didn’t do that. After they were finished, we went to the airport. We arrived three hours early to check in. On my hand, there was a plane ticket that was given to me at the hotel. Three people, including me, boarded the plane to Hong Kong.
Everything was smooth, but right after we got off the plane, a customs officer stopped and questioned me. The other five associates saw that something was wrong and scattered away. At the end of the questioning, I was let go, so I went to the arrivals hall alone. After entering Hong Kong, I thought I would go to a 7-eleven to buy a pack of cigarettes before I went to find the others. However, when I was on my way, a customs officer came from behind and took me into an interview room. The customs officer asked me did I know what happened. I answered “no”. Then he said they suspected I was involved in drug trafficking, so they would detain me for 48 hours. After they checked my luggage and my body, I waited to take a statement. After being detained for over 20 hours, I saw that there were people taking turns guarding me. After another 20 hours, a customs officer took me to take a statement, but I didn’t confess. I was asked why there were three names on the plane ticket. I said that it was bought by a friend I didn’t know. I didn’t know those people either.
After the statement was taken, the customs said they were charging me for drug trafficking and had trafficked 1,535 grams of ketamine. I was astonished! I didn’t carry any drugs, why were they charging me? The customs officer said “since your plane tickets were bought together we suspect that you are an accomplice.” And that was it. I have been detained in Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre since December 1. It has been 4 months and I have gone through three hearings at the West Kowloon Law Court.
The result of the lab test had come out. The results indicated there were 1,268 grams of ketamine. After I came here, I learnt that five accomplices were caught except one. At the same time, I realised that they had had many grams of ketamine on them.
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NO MORE MULES: It’s easy to fall prey. Watch this video to learn one of the many ways drug traffickers operate in Asia and use others for their trade. Follow us on Facebook and share this story so others don’t fall victim.
Note: This letter has been translated and edited from its original language in Chinese.
