19
HK
DAILY TELEGRAPH
cutting dated
Chinese jailed
after biggest
herein haul
By GUY RAIS TWO Chinese who were
caught attempting to smuggle into Britain 1512lb of heroin, valued at £350,000 on the black mar- ket, were jailed at Middle- sex Crown Court yesterday.
It was the biggest single haul discovered by customs officers in this country.
The herein, neatly packed in small plastic bags, and hidden in a brightly-coloured quilted bedding roll, was seized in the customis hall at Heathrow Air- port after a BOAC flight landed from
Hongkong last June.
SAN SHUN Lr. 53, restaurant proprietor of Wednesbury Road, Walsall, Staffs, was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment, and his manager, MA FAT LI, 36, of Ipsley Road, Redditch, Worcs, to eight years.
19 JAN 1973.
Changed pleas
Both men, who had pleaded not guilty to being concerned in evading the prohibition on the importation of the drug, changed their pleas to guilty yesterday, the fourth day of the trial.
''
Judge TRAPNELL. told them: "It was a wicked and deliberate offence. People who smuggle heroin into this country must he prepared to undergo very heavy sentences."
Reminding them that the maximum sentence was 10 years, the Judge said he had little doubt that had the persisted in their original pleas, they would have received maximum sentences.
two
Mr JOHN ROGERS, prosecuting, had told the coret that Customs investigation oficers had spent months investigating When BOAC Flight 805 arrived on June 21, they noticed that Ma Fat Li had in his lug- gage a large blue and white striped kit bag.
The bed roll was inside and, after slitting the lining down one side, the offers found 50 plastic bags in the kapok pad- ding.
They contained 30-2 per cent. heroin mixed with caffeine. The actual retail price was valued at £198.000.
Mr WILLIAM HOWARD, QC, for Ma Fat Li. said he agreed with prosecuting counsel that he was the mere carrier of the drug. Mr RICHARD TUCKER, C, For San Shun Li, said he re- sisted any suggestion that Ma Fat Li was led into committing the offence by his employer.
И.
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