Drug manufacturer jailed

A 47-year-old expatriate man was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment after being convicted of manufacturing of dangerous drugs at the Court of First Instance today (February 15).

The court heard that acting on information, officers of Narcotics Bureau (NB) intercepted two men aged 42 and 45 in the small hours on December 10, 2004 onboard a private car near Yung Shue O Pier after they were seen leaving a fish raft with a small boat and later got on the private car.

Following the interception, officers raided the fish raft at Yung Shue O where another 42-year-old man and the 47-year-old expatriate man were located. A subsequent search led to a seizure of seven buckets containing about 350 litres of brownish solution with solvent of suspected dangerous drugs, a large quantity of chemicals and some chemical apparatus.

The three men and the expatriate man were arrested for manufacturing of dangerous drugs.

Further enquiries revealed that the three men and the expatriate man were trying to extract cocaine from the brownish solution. It is estimated that a total of 562 grams of cocaine with a market price of about $503,000 were already extracted.

The expatriate man was charged with one count of manufacturing of dangerous drugs while the other three men were jointly charged with one count of conspiracy to manufacturing of dangerous drugs.

The expatriate man pleaded guilty to the charge of manufacturing of dangerous drugs at Eastern Magistrates' Courts on June 30, 2005 and had agreed to be an accomplice witness to testify against the other defendants.

The other three men aged between 42 and 45 were sentenced to imprisonments ranging from 20 years to 24 years for conspiracy to manufacturing of dangerous drugs at the Court of First Instance on January 23 this year.

The expatriate man was tried in the Court of First Instance and the sentence was meted out today.


Police Report No.5

Issued by PPRB

End/ Wednesday, February 15, 2006