I was born in 1971 in Hong Kong. I am the youngest in my family and come from a single-parent household, raised by my father. I have an older brother, and no one in my family uses drugs. I have never used drugs and have had no exposure to them since I was young.
At the age of 22, I married my first husband. We had three children together: our oldest daughter is 30 years old, a son who is 25 years old, and our youngest daughter who is 13 years old. I have always taken care of the children by myself. My ex-husband, a printer by profession, was a gambler who never provided enough for our family. I home-schooled all my children and always tried to set a good example.
… Ben asked if I had ever traveled to France and if I could teach him how to take the train once he arrived there. I said I could help and asked if there would be any issues with the goods.
In 2015, I discovered that my husband was having love affairs with other women. I gave him a chance because I didn’t want my children to grow up in a single-parent family like me. But when my oldest daughter saw him with another woman at home, I decided to separate from him. A year later, I met my current husband, who has been very good to my children. He has never given up on me or my children and has helped protect our family.
I have been in custody since December 30, 2021.
It all began back in January 2020, while I was vacationing at a hotel. “Ben” came to wish me a Happy New Year and told me he didn’t have a job, though I didn’t have any work to introduce to him. Later, my phone rang. It was “Robert”, a friend’s boyfriend. He asked if I knew two girls who could go to France to help him bring goods back to Hong Kong. I said no. “Ben”, who was next to me, took my phone, wrote down the number, and contacted Robert afterward. I was unaware of this at the time.
A few days later, Ben called and said he had spoken to Robert and that he was going to help him bring goods from France to Hong Kong. When I asked what kind of goods, he said ivory powder and rhino horn powder. Ben asked if I had ever traveled to France and if I could teach him how to take the train once he arrived there. I said I could help but I asked if there would be any issues with the goods. He told me he had been unemployed for a long time and had no money, which is why he had taken my number to contact me.
After that, I lost contact with Ben. On December 29, 2021, customs officials came to my home and arrested me.
When Ben arrived in France, he asked me how to buy train tickets and sent me some photos. In his last two days abroad, he asked to borrow HK$1,200 (about €150), saying he had no money for food or transport. He promised to repay me as soon as he got back to Hong Kong. I told him I didn’t have any money because I had just paid for my child’s school books.
On January 26, 2020, Ben returned to Hong Kong – it was 6:30 am – he called saying he would find me after he cleared Customs to repay me. He told me that he was heading to the luggage belt, but he saw two people who looked like Customs officers. I told him to ignore them. However, Robert called Ben and told him to go to the luggage belt to pick up the goods. Unexpectedly, he was caught by Customs, and 12 kg of drugs were found hidden in his suitcase.
I didn’t hear from him again until his sister called me that afternoon. She told me that Ben had been detained by Customs officials and that he was found to be involved in drug trafficking.
That was the last I heard of him until roughly August 2020, when Customs officials came to my home. They took me to the airport and detained me for 24 hours. I was released on HK$5,000 bail until December 29, 2021, when they formally charged me with conspiracy to traffic drugs. The next day, December 30, I was brought to court and have been in custody since.
In 2022, my now-husband hired a lawyer to help us register our marriage whilst I’ve been at the Correctional institution. This way he can be the guardian of my youngest child. He visits me every week during his time off. I have been on remand for three years now.
I am worried about my husband’s mother, who is 77 years old. I have seen how my husband has been taking care of his mother, accompanying her to medical appointments. She is starting to develop cataracts and has a pacemaker, high blood pressure, and gout. Before all of this happened to me, I always participated in charitable visits to elderly residents living alone with local district council members. Our family takes part in these activities together.
I know that drugs will cause extreme harm to the body. Every time I meet new friends on remand, I will talk about some of the harms of taking drugs [and] the lack of benefits of taking drugs. Taking any drugs will cause family, friends, and companions to leave you. Money is also poured into drugs, placing many severe consequences on everyone’s back. People who do not take drugs will have a lot of inexhaustible wealth. Wealth is simply life, family, friends, and having rich experiences in life; health is the greatest wealth.
I know I shouldn’t have trusted people so easily. This lesson has been too great, causing heartbreak to my family and casting a shadow over my children. I hope to gain forgiveness and will never casually introduce friends to others again.
Note: This letter has been translated and edited to improve the readability and clarity of the story. All personal names are fictitious. Switch language to read the letters in the original Chinese.