God saved me from death penalty, says ex-Telikom boss

 By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK  

FORMER Telikom chief executive officer Charles Litau yesterday said he escaped a death penalty in unsuspectingly trafficking methamphetamine, also known as ice in South East Asia.

“The quantity (783 grams) that had a street value of more than K1 million) of ice I had in my possession while travelling through China, Hong Kong and Singapore would have got me a death penalty if I was caught in those countries,” he said.

“I don’t know if the international drug syndicate that had set me up had connection with the Customs officers in those countries but allowed me through, although they have sophisticated scanning and detecting equipments to detect the drugs that were professionally inserted in the shoes.

“But all I know was that my Almighty God had protected me in South East Asia and Australia.”

Litau said it was an ordeal being detained and faced with trial for 10 months for possessing ice before the  Darwin Supreme Court  in Northern Territory, Australia.  

“I had fallen victim of a scam set up by an international drug syndicate when they offered me a job through email to be a project manager for a cocoa export/import company in China.  

“In fact, they had emailed my wife and offered her this job. But since she was already employed, she forwarded that email to me and I took up their offer. That was in January 2015 and they said that I will be going through two interview processes in China and Australia.”

Litau said that his purported employer had paid all his hotel bills, airfares and train fares to travel to Guangzhou city in China to be interviewed in the first stage and he departed Port Moresby around March last year to Brisbane (Australia) and to Hong Kong. “From there (Hong Kong), I got a train and went to Guangzhou and stayed in a hotel for 10 days. During my stay, I never met any of these company officials. But they were communicating with me through whatsapp and email. 

“They did contact me three times on my mobile phones, but using different mobile numbers.  But a man usually came around and gave me money to buy just snacks like chicken and chips. I was never given a reasonable amount of money to buy a decent meal or at least buy gifts.” 

Litau said that as part of his interview requirements, he was supposed to visit their chocolate factory in Guangzhou, which he never did. 

“I was also hoping to get an employment contract. But I was told that will be done in Sydney in my second interview stage.”

Litau said on March 14 last year, he was given an air ticket at the last minute to go Darwin from Hong Kong via Singapore. 

“While I was packing up, I was given these shoes that had ice professionally inserted in them which one cannot notice with naked eyes. I was told to pass the shoes to a wife of a purported company official. But the good thing was that I never touch the shoes to have my finger prints on them. I only held on the plastic bag that contained the shoes. 

“So it was Almighty God’s protection because during my trial in Darwin, the State prosecutor strongly argued that I was aware of the ice in the shoes. But they could not prove that because there was no finger prints on the shoes.” 

Litau said from Guangzhou, he travelled by bus to Shenzhen city on the border of China and Hong Kong and was cleared by both China and Hong Kong Custom’s official at the Border Post to enter Hong Kong. 

“I was also cleared by Customs officials at Hong Kong and Singapore international airports where the shoes were scanned but the drug wasn’t detected.”

Litau said that on arrival on March 15 at the Darwin Airport, he was shocked when Customs officials scanned and detected drugs in the shoes.