Chinese held over K35mil drug case

A 43-YEAR-OLD Chinese man was charged in a committal court in Lae, Morobe, with trafficking 88 bags of methamphetamine (meth) from Bulolo last Tuesday,
Magistrate Pious Tapil read out the charge to Chun Li, from Guangdong’s Chen City, China, and denied him bail on Friday.
Chun is alleged to have trafficked the meth from KC2, Seventh Street in Lae, to the Bulolo airstrip on Tuesday to be flown to Australia.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Vincent Suakai, when asked by Magistrate Tapil, said bail should not be granted to Chun as he would likely not return to court because his entry into the country was questionable.
He said Chun was likely to interfere with state witnesses as some were working in the same company as him.
Suakai also told the court that the amount of drug alleged to have been handled by Chun was huge (52kg) with a street value of about K35 million.
Magistrate Tapil then refused to grant Chun bail and gave police three to four months to complete their investigations.
He also ordered Chun to be remanded in Buimo Prison but he could file a proper bail application later.
Police alleged that Chun, on March 21, transported 88 plastic bags of methamphetamine from KC2 Seventh Street in Lae to Bulolo and was taken on a black flight from there to Australia.
The police brief said both Australia and Papua New Guinea police had been monitoring the drug syndicate that allegedly operated out of Australia with its branch in Papua New Guinea since Nov 6. The court heard that the syndicate’s latest plan was allegedly executed on Tuesday when the bags of meth were loaded onto the plane.
On Thursday, police in Lae conducted a search at KC2 and picked up in three Chinese expatriates and two Papua New Guineans for questioning.
Magistrate Tapil fixed April 28 for the next hearing.