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Checks toughen on drug lords
Investigators are being reminded to probe drug traffickers' relatives after a recent case proved illicit money was being stashed in a wife's account.
The Narcotics Bureau issued the reminder after more than half-a-million dollars in assets gained by a drug trafficker were confiscated in a recent case.
A High Court judge on August 18 ordered Pau Sze-chiu to hand over almost $577,000 held in a bank account owned by his common-law wife. Pau was jailed for 18 years by the High Court in March last year after admitting three counts of trafficking heroin.
However, after analysis by the Bureau's Financial Investigations Division, it was found that the only significant assets owned by him were in the woman's account. Officers concluded it represented the proceeds of Pau's drug trafficking and was his property.
A hearing was held on August 12 during which the defence gave evidence on how the money was allegedly legally obtained, and stated it was the woman's property and not Pau's, making it not liable to confiscation.
But the judge rejected the arguments and accepted Police conclusions the money was the proceeds of drug trafficking, finding that the defendant had benefited from the offence.
The judge determined Pau's assets, including those in the woman's name, to be $576,728.82 and made a confiscation order to that sum.
An enforcement order was also made that the defendant serve another 20 months imprisonment if the money was not paid or recovered.
The Division's Detective Senior Inspector Russ Harding said: "We've discovered traffickers keeping money like this in the name of relatives and the Bureau have reminded officers looking for assets of criminals to make sure they conduct checks on relatives."