Students warned as Hong Kong man jailed for importing drugs to New Zealand

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Students warned as Hong Kong man jailed for importing drugs to New Zealand

(Xinhua) 13:12, October 22, 2013

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Young international students are being recruited to help bring illegal drugs into New Zealand, Customs officers warned Tuesday after a university student from Hong Kong was jailed for smuggling a methamphetamine precursor into the country.

Pak Ho (Wesley) Chan, who will turn 23 on Wednesday, was jailed for two and a half years for importing 877.5 grams of Contac NT from China in two separate batches, according to New Zealand Customs.

Chan, who was arrested in May, would be deported on his release.

The Auckland District Court heard that he had imported enough Contac NT to make up to 265 grams of pure methamphetamine with a street value of up to 265,000 NZ dollars (224,007 U.S. dollars).

Customs manager investigations Shane Panettiere said Chan was another case of a young student being used by criminal syndicates as a "catcher" to receive and deliver packages in exchange for money.

Customs officers examined two packages addressed to Chan from China: one had 223.1 grams of Contac NT in the lining of a "U.S. Polo" tartan-pattern bag, and another had 654.4 grams inside hip flasks.

"Criminals are recruiting young people to receive and deliver packages and this is more common than people realize. The public should be aware of the methods some of these syndicates use," Panettiere said in a statement.

"These include, people renting properties or apartments solely for the purpose of having packages delivered to the address, or being asked to receive a package on someone else's behalf. These dealings could be happening openly in universities, schools or student apartments."

Earlier this month New Zealand Police and Customs officers in Wellington seized methamphetamine valued at 2 million NZ dollars that was smuggled from Hong Kong in LED lighting panels, and last month Customs officers seized methamphetamine worth 145,000 NZ dollars being smuggled into the country in women's platform shoes from China.

Those caught attempting to import into New Zealand controlled drugs such as methamphetamine face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In October last year, the Customs agencies of New Zealand and China agreed to work more closely together in intelligence-sharing, targeting and operations to combat the smuggling of drugs.

（Editor：HuangJin、Gao Yinan）