COURT: The defendant pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in a dangerous drug involving 863 grammes of cocaine. On 9 October 2022, the defendant arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia via Bangkok, Thailand. The defendant was refused permission to land by the Immigration Department, and he was escorted for Customs clearance. Customs officers suspected the defendant to have internal concealment of drugs and the defendant was sent to North Lantau Hospital for medical examination.
Subsequent medical examination confirmed that the defendant had foreign objects inside his body. Over the next several days, the defendant discharged a total of 65 pellets containing a total of 1.09 kilogrammes of a solid containing 863 grammes of cocaine.
In a subsequent video-recorded interview with an interpreter, the defendant admitted that his friend introduced him to a Nigerian man and the Nigerian man gave him pellets to swallow in Addis Ababa. The defendant was told that the pellets contained cocaine. The defendant admitted that he would receive US$2,000 as a reward and he swallowed the drugs because he needed money as his business had been affected by the pandemic.
The total amount of cocaine seized had a street value of $940,670.
The Defendant’s Background
The defendant is now 45 years old. He is married with two young daughters aged 2 and 8 years old respectively. The defendant lived in Nigeria prior to this offence. Whilst in Nigeria, the defendant ran a business trading in second-hand printers and photocopiers. However, his business suffered as a result of the pandemic and he was in financial difficulties. The defendant has no previous convictions in Hong Kong or in Nigeria.
Considerations for Sentence
The sentencing approach in trafficking cases is set out by the Court of Appeal in HKSAR v Herry Jane Yusuph [2021] 1 HKLRD 290 and HKSAR v Lee Ming Ho [2024] HKCA 150. I therefore follow the six-step sentencing approach set out in Yusuph.
Applying the guidelines laid down in R v Lau Tak Ming [1990] 2 HKLR 370, and HKSAR v Abdallah [2009] 2 HKLRD 437, the relevant sentencing band for trafficking cocaine of this quantity is between 20 to 23 years’ imprisonment. For trafficking in a total of 863 grammes of cocaine, a mathematically calculated place within the relevant sentencing band would be 21 years and 3 months’ imprisonment after rounding down.
I accept that the defendant’s role is limited to bringing the drugs into Hong Kong only as a courier. As stated in Lee Ming Ho at paragraph 53:
“The fact that an offender has brought dangerous drugs over the border and into Hong Kong is regarded as part of the offender’s role and culpability rather than an additional aggravating factor susceptible of a fixed arithmetical increase of the starting point.”
As that court further stated at paragraph 74, the court will bear in mind the quantity of the narcotic being brought into Hong Kong, which not only increases the supply of the particular drug in Hong Kong but causes greater harm to the community. To take into account the defendant’s enhanced role as a courier who brought drugs into Hong Kong, I will adopt an increased starting point of 22 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
The only mitigating factor in this case is the defendant’s guilty plea. He is entitled to a one-third discount off the starting point which brings the sentence down to 14 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.
Defendant, I sentence you to 14 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.