Drug trafficker sentenced to jail

A 28-year-old man was sentenced to seven years and three months' imprisonment at the Court of First Instance today (February 16) for drug trafficking and money laundering.

The court heard that acting on intelligence received, officers of the Narcotics Bureau laid an ambush outside a premises on Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok in the late evening on January 29, 2005 and intercepted three men, including the defendant, when they were entering the premises.

Officers found inside the unit 156 grams of heroin, some drugs packaging equipments and a large amount of cash.

Police investigations revealed that the money was the proceeds of the defendant's divan business. Further financial investigation uncovered another half a million of dollars from the defendant's bank account.

The 28-year-old man was eventually charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs and dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence while the other two men were discharged upon legal advice.

The defendant was convicted of one count each of the two offences today. He was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for the first offence and six months' imprisonment for the second offence with three months to run concurrently with the first offence.

The court also ordered to confiscate $226,020 cash seized during the operation under the Crimes Ordinance and also $487,210 deposit in the defendant's bank account under the Drug Trafficking (Recovery of Proceeds) Ordinance.

A Police spokesman warned against any drug-related activities and said that Police would continue to apply under the law to confiscate drugs proceeds to combat drug-related crimes.


Police Report No. 5

Issued by PPRB

End/Thursday, February 16, 2006