Six foreign drug traffickers jailed up to 27 years

Five Mexicans and an American have been jailed for up to 27 years in one of the city's biggest drug trafficking cases.

In sentencing yesterday, Deputy Judge Mr Justice Gareth Lugar-Mawson described the case - involving cocaine with a street value of more than HK$500 million - as an extremely bad example of international drug trafficking. Saying he believed most of the cocaine was bound for the mainland, Lugar-Mawson said the law had to ensure Hong Kong would not become a drug transit centre in Asia.

The six were arrested in September 2011 and 538 kilograms of cocaine was seized in an operation police said smashed the Hong Kong operations of an international syndicate.

American Heric Rivas, 26, and Mexicans Josue Mario Bravo Galindo, 33; Jose Duarte Gomez, 36; Maria Elena Bazua Tapia, 34; Elmer Murillo Medina, 41; and Talina Prieto Vazquez, 29, were given jail terms ranging from 17 years and four months to 27 years.

All had pleaded guilty except Vazquez.

The court earlier heard that in September 2011, five containers containing plastic waste were shipped from Bolivia to Hong Kong. The contents were stored at a warehouse in Tuen Mun. On September 15 and 16, the six were arrested after being seen going in and out of the warehouse.