The defendant has pleaded guilty to trafficking in a dangerous drug, namely 690 grammes of a solid containing 510 grammes of cocaine on 9 July 2012. The street value of the drugs is estimated at HK$704,490.
The defendant is a national of Paraguay. He is 31 years of age and single. Other than what has been submitted on his behalf today, very little is known about him and how he got involved in this offence. He was a seaman earning about US$400 a month. On 9 July 2012, he arrived at Hong Kong International Airport on a flight from Dubai, having commenced his journey from San Paola, Brazil. He was intercepted for Customs clearance and a search of him and his belongings proved negative.
On suspicion that the defendant was concealing drugs in his body, he was escorted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for a medical examination. Upon an x-ray examination, it was found that he had foreign objects in his body cavity. He subsequently discharged a total of 70 pellets containing the drugs that he admitted that he was trafficking into Hong Kong.
He was arrested and cautioned and participated in a record of interview. He claimed that in a hotel in Sao Paulo he was given 70 pellets to swallow by a person named Roberto. He had no contact number for Roberto who would contact him at the hotel. He was instructed to transport the drugs to Hong Kong where upon arrival he was to check in at the Empire Hotel where he would discharge the pellets of drugs and give them to a person who would come to pick them up. He was to receive US$5,000 as a reward after the delivery had been made.
He knew that each pellet contained about 10 grammes of cocaine. He travelled business class and had two mobile phones and two Tigo SIM cards on him when arrested.
It is becoming an all too familiar feature in these courts of someone like the defendant of Latin-American nationality transporting hard drugs into Hong Kong for reward. The usual method employed for transporting the drugs is to consume the drugs contained in small pellets and discharge them upon arrival in Hong Kong where they would be handed over to a contact.
The defendant knowingly brought the drugs into Hong Kong and used a method of concealment in order to make it harder for the authorities to detect. Concealing drugs in a person’s body cavity is a deliberate and calculating method of concealment and transportation of the drugs.
It was clearly part of an elaborate scheme orchestrated by a major drug syndicate. It involved detailed preparation and planning given the quantity of drugs and the manner by which they were packed and brought into Hong Kong. It had an international element.
There are clearly other persons involved in this serious crime, both abroad and here in Hong Kong. They are not before me and that is something the defendant should think about while he serves a lengthy prison sentence.
The penalties are severe for those involved in the drug trade. No excuse or personal circumstances will avoid a substantial prison sentence.
The guideline case of Lau Tak Ming provides for a sentence of 17 years and 9 months’ imprisonment after trial for trafficking in 510 grammes of cocaine.
On the authority of Abdallah Anwar Abbas and Da Silva, the sentence will be enhanced by 9 months for the aggravating factor of the international element by the importation of drugs into Hong Kong.
Accordingly, I impose a starting point of 18 years and 6 months’ imprisonment which I will reduce by one-third for the defendant’s guilty plea.
There being no other mitigation that warrants further discount to the sentence to be imposed, I sentence the defendant to 12 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.