Mother used girl as border drug mule, court told

[enquirewithin]

Great way to use your kids!
__________________________________________

Winnie Chong

Hong Kong Standard Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A mother who allegedly used her nine- year-old daughter to carry dangerous drugs from Shenzhen to Hong Kong was accused yesterday of ill-treating the young girl.

Immigration records showed the girl had made 40 trips since July, the Fan Ling Magistracy was told.

In court also was a driver surnamed Ling who was charged with trafficking in dangerous drugs on Thursday and ill- treating a child. No pleas were taken.

The mother, surnamed Lung, 50, a part-time cleaner who earns HK$2,500 a month, was involved in two charges of ill-treating her daughter in October and last Thursday.

The court was told Lung used her daughter to gain rewards by trafficking in dangerous drugs.

The mother, according to the prosecution, knew Ling, who instructed her to let her daughter go to Shenzhen. The woman was said to have been paid HK$1,400 per trip.
Under caution, the woman admitted using her daughter to carry drugs twice, even though the girl said she was afraid to go to the mainland alone.


The prosecution told the court Lung may face other criminal charges.

Acting principal magistrate Anthony Kwok Kai-on denied a request for bail for the woman and the driver.
The court was told the girl's mother had asked her to go to their aunt's Shenzhen home on her own that day, after Ling had called the mother.

According to the prosecution, the aunt then brought the girl to meet Ling and was told to bring a "gift" back to Hong Kong.

The girl waited for Ling at 7.27pm on Thursday at the Lo Wu train station. The man gave her HK$1,400 as a reward.
When they got off at the Sheung Shui station and before they separated, the girl allegedly passed 980 tablets of Halcion, a trade name for the sedative triazolam, and 42 grams of a drug suspected to be heroin to the man.

Under caution, the man, who had 13 previous convictions - of which six were related to drugs - admitted he trafficked in drugs and that the girl had nothing to do with the crime.
The girl is now under temporary home care.

The case has been adjourned until Friday.