COURT: Both defendants, D1 and D2, have pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to traffic in a dangerous drug, namely, cocaine in the magistrate court. They are committed to this court for sentence.
On 6 June 2021, customs officers intercepted an inbound consignment from Brazil which comprised of 12 carton boxes of soap. Inside these soaps, 70 of them containing 4.173 kilogrammes of cocaine was found.
A controlled delivery operation was mounted.
On 7 June 2021, one Mr Tse (aged 16 at the time) came to the Asia Airfreight Terminal of the Hong Kong International Airport to collect the consignment. He presented to the staff with one authorisation letter in the name of Nguyen Tak-shing (aged 17 at the time), a co-defendant in the present case. The consignment was addressed to Nguyen Tak-shing with his full address and ID number.
After the collection, Mr Tse together with the consignment went to an empty space in Yuen Long where he alighted the van and unloaded the consignment. Both D1, D2 and another co-defendant, Yau Yee-kei (aged 15 at the time) appeared to collect the consignment. At this point, all of them were arrested by customs officers.
Examination of mobile phones belonging to D1, D2 and the other two co-defendants was conducted by Customs and Excise officers. WhatsApp messages between all defendants revealed the fact that D1 was the leader in arranging the consignment coming to Hong Kong in the first place. D1 recruited D2 into the arrangements. D2 in turn then recruited Nguyen Tak-shing into the arrangements. The latter provided his full name, full address, and Hong Kong ID card number to D2 as the recipient of the consignment.
In the course of the other two defendants’ trial, ie, Nguyen and Yau, evidence revealed that Nguyen Tak-shing refused to go to collect the consignment, hence a replacement, Mr Tse, was recruited on board. Evidence also revealed that at one stage Ms Yau Yee-kei provided Mr Tse’s ID card and full name, to D2.
It seems clear that the scheme in collecting this consignment was sophisticated and carefully planned by both D1 and D2. They did everything possible to avoid being arrested and implicated. In the course of carrying out the scheme, young persons, all in their teens, were employed.
The street value of the cocaine was estimated to be around about HK$5.7 million.
D1 is now 30, single. He has five criminal records with one possession of dangerous drugs. He was sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment in January 2025 for riot and a conspiracy to wound (DCCC 932/2023). Prior to his arrest he worked as a driver earning $15,000 a month.
D2 is now 27, single. He has two criminal records with one similar. He was on 25 June 2014 sentenced to 4 years and 8 months’ imprisonment for trafficking in dangerous drugs in this court.
Based on the latest sentencing guidelines, starting point for trafficking in 4.173 kilogrammes of the cocaine is one of 23 years’ imprisonment, ie, 276 months’ imprisonment.
In this particular case, there are in my view at least two aggravating factors, namely, the arrangement for the importation of cocaine from abroad and the employment of young persons. Clearly D1 and D2 were not acting simply as courier. As such, 12 months each, ie, a total of 24 months,
will be added for these two aggravating features. The overall starting point for D1 will therefore be increased to one of 300 months’ imprisonment.
Apart from their plea, there is no other mitigating factor.
In summary, for the sole offence D1 stands convicted, he is sentenced to a total of 200 months’ imprisonment, ie, 16 years and 8 months.
The sentence in the present case will be ordered to run wholly consecutively to the one imposed in the District Court as the nature of the two cases is completely different. The overall sentence in the present case will no doubt be a substantial one but in my view not a crushing one.
In the case of D2, given the fact that he has one similar trafficking record, 12 months will be added. In the case of D2, his overall starting point will be one of 312 months’ imprisonment. Given the one-third full discount for his earliest plea, D2 is therefore sentenced to 208 months’ imprisonment, ie, 17 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.