Man arrested for staging drug arrests jailed for 10 years
2002-9-5
An unemployed man, arrested by the ICAC in the course of a corruption inquiry concerning "staged" arrests of drug traffickers, was today (Thursday) sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment at the Court of First Instance for helping a drug dealer to recruit a c ourier to traffic in dangerous drugs.
Lai Tsz-ki, 30, unemployed, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of aiding and abetting Wong Chi-chiu and Lam Wan-lung to unlawfully traffic in one kilogram of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride (commonly known as "ICE") on January 31, 2000.
Deputy High Court Judge Peter Line noted that the arrest of the courier was set up by the dealer for manufacturing mitigation for a sentence he himself faced.
The judge added that the arrest had helped the dealer successfully manipulate the system.
The judge also said that while the drugs in this case would not reach the open market, the motive behind the trafficking was morally repugnant.
The judge said he took a starting point of 18 years and reduced it to ten years, taking into account the defendant's guilty plea and the fact that the drugs were not intended to go to the market.
The court heard that in late 1999, a man, surnamed Wong, asked the defendant to find him a courier for carrying dangerous drugs.
The defendant approached his former colleague Lam Wan-lung, who agreed to help.
During a meeting in the evening of January 31, 2000, the defendant introduced Lam to Wong, whom the defendant referred to as "Ka-wing".
"Ka-wing" asked Lam to carry some drugs placed at Ferry Point to Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan, and promised to give Lam $2,000 as a reward.
At about midnight, the defendant and Lam took a taxi to Ferry Point, where Lam picked up a shopping bag. Lam then took a taxi to Shun Tak Centre by himself.
On the instruction of "Ka-wing", Lam waited outside a convenient store near Shun Tak Centre for someone to pick up the bag he was carrying.
Shortly before 1:00 am on February 1, 2000, some police officers arrested Lam outside the convenient store, and found him in possession of a bag containing about 930 grammes of substance suspected to be "ICE".
Lam was subsequently charged by the Police with a drug trafficking offence.
The prosecution was today represented by Acting Senior Government Counsel Gary Lam, assisted by ICAC officer Eric Fan.
The ICAC inquiries into the corruption allegations are continuing.
Lai Tsz-ki, 30, unemployed, pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of aiding and abetting Wong Chi-chiu and Lam Wan-lung to unlawfully traffic in one kilogram of Methamphetamine Hydrochloride (commonly known as "ICE") on January 31, 2000.
Deputy High Court Judge Peter Line noted that the arrest of the courier was set up by the dealer for manufacturing mitigation for a sentence he himself faced.
The judge added that the arrest had helped the dealer successfully manipulate the system.
The judge also said that while the drugs in this case would not reach the open market, the motive behind the trafficking was morally repugnant.
The judge said he took a starting point of 18 years and reduced it to ten years, taking into account the defendant's guilty plea and the fact that the drugs were not intended to go to the market.
The court heard that in late 1999, a man, surnamed Wong, asked the defendant to find him a courier for carrying dangerous drugs.
The defendant approached his former colleague Lam Wan-lung, who agreed to help.
During a meeting in the evening of January 31, 2000, the defendant introduced Lam to Wong, whom the defendant referred to as "Ka-wing".
"Ka-wing" asked Lam to carry some drugs placed at Ferry Point to Shun Tak Centre in Sheung Wan, and promised to give Lam $2,000 as a reward.
At about midnight, the defendant and Lam took a taxi to Ferry Point, where Lam picked up a shopping bag. Lam then took a taxi to Shun Tak Centre by himself.
On the instruction of "Ka-wing", Lam waited outside a convenient store near Shun Tak Centre for someone to pick up the bag he was carrying.
Shortly before 1:00 am on February 1, 2000, some police officers arrested Lam outside the convenient store, and found him in possession of a bag containing about 930 grammes of substance suspected to be "ICE".
Lam was subsequently charged by the Police with a drug trafficking offence.
The prosecution was today represented by Acting Senior Government Counsel Gary Lam, assisted by ICAC officer Eric Fan.
The ICAC inquiries into the corruption allegations are continuing.