Customs said today a case against a 24-year-old hairdresser, accused of trafficking 1.17 kilograms of cocaine worth about HK$1.3 million, will be mentioned at the Kwun Tong Magistrates’ Courts tomorrow.
An X-ray scan detected drugs in his body after the suspect arrived at Hong Kong International Airport from Brazil via Ethiopia on Sunday. He excreted 90 pellets of cocaine over two days.
I’d like to introduce myself. I am a 23 years old, single, Brazilian man from São Paulo.
I was arrested 5 months ago at Hong Kong International Airport carrying 1,850g of drugs. I am going to tell my story so you will know how I came to be here.
The cold hurt me inside and out, I felt my baby move inside me, and my mind never stopped thinking….
I am Brazilian, 23 years old and in Dec 2018 – a week before I came to Hong Kong – I left my home town in the north of Brazil and travelled to São Paulo. I was 7 months pregnant with my first child. A “friend” offered me the trip, and in the situation I was in, I accepted. The day had finally arrived for my trip to Hong Kong. All was set.
I behaved like a child because I didn’t know the person well and at the first chance I accepted the invitation
I am writing this letter to explain my story. I lived in Ulianópolis, Pará, Brazil and there I met someone online and I ‘chat’ with them for a long time. Then, that person invited me to visit Hong Kong. They gave me money for the ticket and sent another friend to give me some jackets because he said that Hong Kong was very cold. Then, I accepted. I looked at all the jackets; they were new all had their brand labels on and in good condition. Then, I traveled to Hong Kong on 25/12/2019 and arrived on the 26/12/2019 at 7 p.m.
It’s been almost one year since my arrest and detention on trafficking charges of 1 kilo of high purity cocaine.
As everybody knows, I was not the owner of that drug. I was recruited as a courier to carry it overseas with the promise of a monetary reward for a better life for my family. Although it is not an excuse, everybody also knows that we agree to break the law just for our family.
I am Brazilian, and this is my sad story.
Due to my financial situation and the huge responsibility on my shoulders (five children and four wives) I was approached by a man. He introduced me to several others, and they told me many things like they were selling a vacation package. They assured me that the risks were very low and promised that even if caught the punishment was small.
A Colombian drug mule who admitted trafficking more than HK$2.7 million worth of cocaine into Hong Kong to repay debts for his sister’s medicine was jailed for 16 years and eight months by a High Court judge on Friday.
Cesar Sanchez, 21, did not initially react to the sentence on one count of trafficking a dangerous drug. But he broke down in tears as his lawyers gathered around the dock to explain the sentence after the hearing.
The former butcher was convicted after stating through an interpreter: “I declare myself guilty.”
Sanchez was arrested at Hong Kong International Airport on October 26 last year after officers found five packets of paste, which contained 1,719 grams of cocaine, inside a rucksack.
According to prosecutors, he was offered up to US$35,000 to take the rucksack from Sao Paulo in Brazil. They said a man called Marcos came to his home and threatened to kill him or hurt his younger sister if he changed his mind about the trip.
Defense counsel Michael Arthur explained that his client had borrowed 5 million Colombian pesos (HK$13,127) from a loan shark to cover living expenses and medicine for his sister, 17.
Sanchez, as her primary caregiver, was earning a monthly wage of 900,000 pesos while she needed a million pesos a month to treat the lupus she was suffering.
When he could not meet repayment deadlines and the 20 percent daily interest, Sanchez reluctantly agreed to work for the loan shark, Arthur said.
“He regrets getting involved in drug trafficking,” Arthur continued. “This is an offense that is borne out of desperation.”
The court heard that Sanchez joined a campaign to write blogs and send letters back home to discourage fellow Colombians from taking drugs to Hong Kong.
But deputy High Court judge Madam Justice Susana D’Almada Remedios did not accept that as a mitigating factor. However, she reduced the initial 25-year sentence by a third because of his guilty plea.<
“Dangerous drug trafficking is a very, very serious offense,” she said. “It is unfortunate that people like yourself are targeted … I have every sympathy for persons like you.”
There were clear and binding sentencing guidelines laid down by the Court of Appeal, the judge said.
Under Hong Kong law, those convicted of trafficking dangerous drugs can be jailed for life and fined HK$5 million.
