COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of trafficking in a dangerous drug during the committal proceedings. He was charged on the 11th day of November 2022 at a taxi at Sai Yee Street, Mong Kok, unlawfully trafficked 4,240.6 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 4,231.5 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride (otherwise known as ‘Ice’).
The Summary of Facts which the defendant admitted are as follows. At about 0045 hours on 11 November 2022, police officers mounted a roadblock at Sai Yee Street near Bute Street, Mong Kok, Kowloon.
At about 0048 hours on 11 November 2022, police officers intercepted a taxi with licence plate number WE5224 at the roadblock. Defendant was on board the taxi and defendant was observed to be acting furtively. A black shopping bag was placed beside defendant’s left foot. Defendant was instructed to get off the taxi and bring with him the shopping bag for a search. Upon search, the following items were found inside defendant’s black shopping bag:
(1) a digital scale;
(2) ten transparent plastic bags containing dangerous drugs subsequently confirmed by government chemists to be a total of 4,240.6 grammes of a crystalline solid containing 4,231.5 grammes of methamphetamine hydrochloride.
Defendant was arrested. Under caution, he admitted that he trafficked in dangerous drugs because he was in need of money. He did not know the taxi driver and the taxi driver had nothing to do with the dangerous drugs.
Cash of HK$156.50 and a Xiaomi mobile phone containing a SIM card were seized from the defendant.
The estimated value of the seized methamphetamine hydrochloride was HK$2,412,901. This is quite a substantial quantity of ‘Ice’.
You are now 26 years of age and at the time of the offence you were 22. You were born in China and came to Hong Kong. You came from a broken family in that your mother deserted the family. I am told because of your condition, you did not perform well at school, although it is said that you were educated up to Form 5.
This is not the first time that you were caught in trouble. When you were 18 years old, you were found guilty of five charges involving criminal damage. You were placed on probation for 18 months for all five offences. Unfortunately, you did not treasure the opportunity that was given to you. You did not learn much from the probation. Then you committed the present offence some four years later, which is a very serious offence.
According to the guideline laid down by the Court of Appeal recently in the case of Huang Ruifang, reported in [2025] 2 HKLRD 138, for ‘Ice’ between 1.5 to 5 kilogrammes, the sentencing range is from 20 to 24 years.
It is urged upon me that your role is simply as a courier, taking the drugs from one place to another place. It is urged upon me that although a digital scale was found together with the drugs, however, there is no other packaging material such as an empty transparent bag. Hence, it is urged upon me to accept that your role is just a courier, despite the finding of a digital scale. I am prepared to give you the benefit of doubt and accept that you are only a courier. Having considered your role, which is at the lowest end of the scale, I chose a starting point of 23 years and 1.5 months.
I have some sympathy with your background in that you come from a broken family. You had a very irresponsible mother who deserted you when you had this problem in studying. However, you still have a very caring father and a grandmother. I hope with their support, you can turn over a new leaf when you are released from prison in due course.
The Court of Appeal has said on many occasions, no matter how tragic the background, for offences as serious as this one, your background does not help very much in mitigation. The only leniency that I can extend to you is that I would ignore your previous record of criminal damage, in view of it is not similar to dangerous drugs, and you were very young at that time, only 18 years of age, and judging from the sentence, which is one of probation for 18 months, probably it is not a very serious case of criminal damage.
Other than your plea of guilty at the first available opportunity, I can see no other mitigating factors. I will give you a full one-third discount from my notional starting point of 23 years and 1.5 months.
I sentence you to a term of imprisonment of 15 years and 5 months.