Woman arrested over meth

PAPUA New Guinean businesswoman Mei Lin was arrested by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) last week in Brisbane, Australia, in connection with a K33 million worth of methamphetamine (meth) bust last March.
On March 21, 2023, a plane loaded with 71.5kg meth worth K33 million took off from Bulolo in Morobe, and was intercepted by the AFP after landing in Monto, Brisbane.
Lin was charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of meth and one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime, money or property worth K24,000 (A$10,000) or more, according to a AFP statement last week.
Acting Police Commissioner Donald Yamasombi said the AFP was in charge of the investigation that led to Lin’s arrest.
“They will deal with her according to their laws.
“Whether they charge her and sentence her to prison, or deport her to Papua New Guinea as she is a citizen, that is for the AFP to decide,” he said.
“But once she is in Papua New Guinea, we will also charge her according to our laws.”
Yamasombi said those who were arrested in Lae, last March, would be arraigned.
According to police, the 88 plastic bags of meth seized in Australia were traced to Lin’s KC2 warehouse on Lae’s Seventh Street, Morobe.
Lin is the owner and director of KC2.
She flew to Brisbane days before the meth bust, and was taken in for questioning by the AFP.
But she was released because police did not have enough evidence to charge her.
Shortly after her release, Lae police arrested and charged 43-year-old Chun Li, from Guangdong, China, for allegedly moving the meth from KC2 premises to Bulolo.
Police said then that they believed that KC2 was a storage facility for meth, and that the drug originated from Port Moresby.