HKSAR v. Amit Paik
Read the full judgment text of DCCC 321/2025 on BabelCite. This District Court judgment was delivered on 1 April 2026.
1. The defendant pleads guilty to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs.
Cites 3 cases
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DCCC 321/2025 [2026] HKDC 610 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION CRIMINAL CASE NO 321 OF 2025 -----------------------------------------
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--------------------------------------- REASONS FOR SENTENCE --------------------------------------- CHARGE 1.The defendant pleads guilty to one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs. FACTS 2.At around 12.01 am on 26 September 2024, police officers laid ambush at the back staircase outside Room D, 16th Floor, Harilela Mansion, in Tsim Sha Tsui. 3.At around 1.54 am, the defendant walked out of the flat, he was immediately stopped by the police. At that time, there was a man called Ali standing behind him. 4.Police officers conducted a body search on the defendant, they found two mobile phones and a key to the flat. 5.Police officers searched the flat. They found the following: On the table in the left side of the kitchen:
ARREST AND ADMISSION 6.The defendant was arrested. Later he was brought back to the police station. In a video-recorded interview, he said, among other things:
OTHER DETAILS 7.The estimated street values of the ketamine, cocaine, cannabis, and MDMA in question were $1,300-odd, $300-odd, $7,000‑odd, and $600-odd respectively. 8.The owner of the flat told the police that he entered the tenancy agreement with the defendant. It was leased to the defendant at a monthly rent of $6,000 from 2 January 2024 to 1 January 2026. 9.At the material time, the defendant was a Form 8 recognisance holder. 10.At the time of the offence, the defendant was in possession of the seized drugs for the purpose of unlawful trafficking. RECORD 11.Defendant is now aged 25. He came from Bangladesh to Hong Kong in 2023. He is a Form 8 recognisance holder here. He has a clear record. MITIGATION 12.Defence counsel says the defendant was alone in Hong Kong. He has parents and three sisters in Bangladesh. His grandmother passed away recently. 13.Counsel says the defendant was only a storekeeper of the drugs. He is remorseful now. He begs for leniency and wants to return to Bangladesh as soon as possible. Counsel submits the defendant’s mitigation letter in which the defendant says he foolishly committed the offence because he wanted to make quick money for his family. 14.Counsel says the defendant was a cocaine user himself. She asks the court to give the defendant some discount for this claim of own use of the cocaine. Counsel suggests that the basic starting point the court should adopt for the defendant’s conviction is one of 52 months’ imprisonment. She agrees the fact that the defendant was a Form 8 recognisance holder is an aggravating factor. 15.There are six types of drugs in question:
16.Counsel makes her calculation under the absurdity test, conversion test and ratio test. 17.Counsel says that the defendant is still young. She asks the court to be as lenient as possible towards the defendant. SENTENCE 18.The defendant trafficked in more than one kind of dangerous drugs. There are six types:
COCAINE 19.The defendant was a cocaine user because there was some trace of that drug in the urine sample taken from him during CSD custody. 20.Defence counsel claims the defendant would use part of the 0.3 gramme of cocaine. 21.There is, however, no evidence that the defendant would have used any part of that small quantity for his own consumption. That bag of 0.3 gramme of cocaine was found among the other drugs the defendant trafficked in. I am sure the cocaine in question was more for the defendant’s trafficking rather than for his own use. Therefore, there will be no discount of sentence for this failed claim of own consumption. HERBAL CANNABIS AND CANNABIS OIL 22.In HKSAR v Nguyen Thang Loi [2023] HKCA 103, it is said the average THC concentration in herbal cannabis is 19.2 per cent. Thus, 8.47 grammes of cannabis oil with THC concentration of 73.9 per cent is as much as 32.6 grammes of herbal cannabis. Adding such notional quantity to the real quantity of 36.7 grammes of herbal cannabis seized, the (e) and (f) components above can be treated as 69.3 grammes of herbal cannabis for the purpose of sentencing. 23.According to the relevant tariffs, trafficking in less than 2,000 grammes of herbal cannabis would attract no more than 16 months’ imprisonment. 24.Even taking into account the defendant trafficked in more than one dangerous drug, the notional sentence for trafficking (e) and (f) should only be 3 months’ imprisonment. That accounts for only a small portion of the final sentence. It thus can be put aside for the time being when the court has to consider sentencing in relation to the more significant components of the drugs seized:
The total quantity of the narcotic contents of (a) to (d) above is 16.36 grammes. PSILOCIN/MDMA/KETAMINE 25.Psilocin (magic mushroom) is akin to MDMA in drug effect. The Hii Siew Cheng tariffs ([2009] 1 HKLRD 1) apply to ketamine and MDMA. It would also apply to psilocin. ABSURDITY TEST 26.Cocaine is the most potent drug among the four types in (a) to (d). If all the 16.36 grammes were treated as cocaine, the notional starting point would be 66 months’ imprisonment. CONVERSION TEST Psilocin/MDMA/Ketamine being converted to cocaine 27.All the psilocin, MDMA, ketamine added up is 16.06 grammes. In terms of sentence, that represents about 8 grammes of cocaine. Adding such converted quantity to the real quantity of 0.3 grammes of cocaine seized, the starting point for a notional quantity of 8.3 grammes of cocaine would be 54 months’ imprisonment. Cocaine being converted to Psilocin/MDMA/Ketamine 28.0.3 grammes of cocaine will attract a sentence of 24 months’ imprisonment. That is equivalent to 1 gramme of psilocin/MDMA/ketamine. Adding such converted quantity to the real quantity of 16.06 grammes of psilocin/MDMA/ketamine seized, the starting point for a notional quantity of 17.06 grammes of psilocin/MDMA/ketamine would be 52 months’ imprisonment. RATIO TEST 29.16.36 grammes of cocaine will attract 66 months’ imprisonment and 16.36 grammes of psilocin/MDMA/ketamine will attract 51 months’ imprisonment. The notional sentence under the ratio test for (a) to (d) components is 51 months’ imprisonment (66 months x 0.3/16.36 plus 51 months x 16.06/16.36). COMBINED STARTING POINT BEFORE ENHANCEMENT 30.The various test calculations are for the prevention of over-sentencing. The court is not bound to adopt any one of those results as the final sentence. Taking all the relevant factors into consideration including the defendant’s trafficking in a few kinds of drugs at the same time, the basic starting point for the charge involving all the six types of drug components (a) to (f) should be one of 57 months’ imprisonment. FORM 8 ENHANCEMENT 31.The defendant was a Form 8 recognisance holder at the time of the offence. He committed a very serious criminal conduct. 32.In paragraph 33 of HKSAR v Butt Mohammed Gulzar, CACC 205/2019, the Court of Appeal says “the enhancement for being a Form 8 recognisance holder must be substantial otherwise it has no deterrent effect. On many occasions, this court has said that the amount of enhancement should be left to the discretion of sentencers, but that it will lose its deterrent effect in respect of serious criminal conduct if it is less than 6 months.” FINAL SENTENCE 33.In the present case, the basic starting point is 57 months’ imprisonment, and that would be enhanced by 6 months because of the fact that the defendant was a Form 8 recognisance holder when he committed the serious offence of trafficking in dangerous drugs. 34.The final starting point would be one of 63 months’ imprisonment. The defendant pleads guilty in time. He is entitled to a one-third discount. He is thus sent to prison for 42 months.
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