HKSAR v. Masood Ahmed Tahir

DCCC 915/2012

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CRIMINAL CASE NO 915 OF 2012

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Reasons for Sentence

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1.The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in 11.86 kilograms of cannabis resin.

2.The facts admitted by the defendant state that at 5.45 pm on 11 May, the police were conducting an anti-drug operation in Western District.  The defendant was spotted acting furtively in the vicinity of a grocery shop selling Nepalese goods.  He was later seen carrying a white bucket with a blue cover and he boarded a taxi.  The police followed and the defendant was seen to alight from the taxi near the Tak Lee Building in King’s Road, Quarry Bay.

3.Another male took the bucket and put it on the floor at the front entrance of the Tak Lee Building.  The defendant picked up the bucket and then took it up to the 11th floor of the building, and he left it on the staircase on the 11th floor.  The police later intercepted the defendant and seized the bucket and its contents.  The bucket was found to contain the drugs, the subject of the charge.

4.The defendant had $580 in his possession when he was arrested, and the street value of the cannabis resin is just over $1.4 million.

5.The defendant is 45 years of age.  He has had no education and is illiterate.  He is a torture claimant in Hong Kong and living off the subsistence which the government allows applicants.  Back in Pakistan, he has a wife who is 38 years of age and they have four children: a son, 17, and three younger daughters.  I am told that the family in Pakistan is now being supported entirely by the 17-year-old son who is working as a labourer earning the equivalent of HK$30 a day. 

6.I am told that the defendant has been suffering from some form of heart illness and he has been receiving medication whilst in custody and also was hospitalised for a period of time.  I am told that the defendant became involved in this incident through his knowledge of a person called Amjab who telephoned him to go to Western and asked him to convey the drugs from Western to this location in Quarry Bay.  I am told that initially the defendant was not aware of precisely what was inside the bucket but he did know that Amjab was a drug dealer though and he therefore suspected that it contained drugs.  He was expecting to be paid in the region of $150 to $200 for his assistance in this matter.

7.I am told that when the defendant completes his prison sentence, he intends to return to Pakistan to support his family.

8.As counsel has quite rightly said, the starting point for offences involving this quantity of drugs starts at 4 years for 9 kilograms of cannabis resin.  The amount in this case is 11.8 grammes.

9.Having heard all the circumstances, I propose to take a starting point of 4 years and reduce that by one-third to reflect his guilty plea.  The defendant will go to prison for 32 months.