A CONSTRUCTION site worker who was found trafficking in heroin while he was on bail pending trial for a similar crime was yesterday sentenced to 20 years' jail by the High Court. The court also heard that when Leung Yiu-wing, 30, committed the earlier offence, he had just been released from prison after serving a term for a drug offence. Leung had pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking in a dangerous drug and one of simple possession, involving a total of almost 1.4 kilograms of narcotic. The four charges were contained in two separate indictments, but the judge had agreed to deal with both cases at the same time. Prosecutor Harish Melwaney said Leung was stopped by the police in King's Road, North Point, on April 19 last year. When three blocks of a heroin mixture, containing 420 grams of narcotic, were found in his bag , Leung admitted he was helping people to deliver the drugs. His home was searched and a further batch of heroin containing 263 grams of narcotic was seized. The court heard that while he was on bail pending trial for the offence, he committed similar offences and was arrested again on September 3. A packet of heroin with 4.5 grams of salts of esters of morphine was found in his underpants when he was searched after being stopped in Causeway Bay. He also led police to a nearby flat where more drugs, with 688 grams of narcotic, were located. On this occasion, Leung also admitted he was selling drugs for others. His counsel in both cases, Jeremy Cheung submitted that when Leung committed the first offence, he had just been released from prison for a few months and needed money. He urged the court to impose as lenient a sentence as possible in view of the help Leung had given to police.
