Ten Hong Kong residents allegedly involved in a cross-border drug trafficking syndicate appeared in a Shenzhen court yesterday, accused of using a pregnant woman to smuggle heroin to Hong Kong.
Poon Siu-keung, 36, Heung Yiu-tak, 34, Choi Chi-cheung, 25, Choi Tsz-on, 21, Yuen Yip-chiu, 33, Yuen Yip-wing, 29, So Hoi-yiu, 27, Ng Po-kin, 45, Lee Hau-wan, 25, and Fong Yan, 57, were charged with smuggling more than 5kg of the drug from Shenzhen to Hong Kong. Three more Hong Kong people, including a pregnant woman and a man said to be the mastermind of the syndicate, are still at large.
The suspects - nine males and a female, Lee, - denied the charge.
The prosecution said they had smuggled the heroin to Hong Kong last year by hiding it in the bodies of two female members to avoid customs searches.
One of the female smugglers now at large was pregnant. Her arrest on May 12 at the border checkpoint by Shenzhen customs officers led police to trace the syndicate. Officers found a bag of heroin hidden in her vagina, the court was told. She later escaped.
The prosecution said the syndicate was controlled by a Hong Kong crime boss nicknamed 'Brother Mon', who was still at large. It said the syndicate bought drugs from trafficking rings in Africa and reprocessed them in Shenzhen. They then used female smugglers to get the drugs into Hong Kong.