A 25-year-old woman from Hong Kong, Ching Ka Po, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after she was linked to a courier package containing 993 g of methamphetamine concealed in the base of a 30-cm-tall statue of a traditional Chinese warrior.
The street value of the meth was valued at $1 million New Zealand Dollars, or HKD $6.63 million.
Ching had arrived in New Zealand on December 27 2013, and the meth arrived by courier on January 3 2014. New Zealand Customs later linked her to other similar packages, and Ching was arrested at the apartment she was renting in Auckland.
The Auckland District Court said she’d have to serve at least four years on parole before she could be deported.
According to the Manager of Investigations at the New Zealand Customs Service, it is not common for criminals to hire young people from overseas and pay for them to live in New Zealand just so that they can receive drugs and distribute them.
If National Geographic wanted to start a Chinese edition of Locked Up Abroad, this would make a great first episode.
Photo: New Zealand Customs Service website
