HK court sentences Pinay to 23 years for drug trafficking



By Carina Roncesvalles, The Philippine Star
Posted at 10/12/2012 3:16 AM | Updated as of 10/12/2012 11:46 AM
HONG KONG – A 52-year-old Filipino woman was sentenced here yesterday to 23 years imprisonment for bringing in one kilo of heroin in November last year.
A seven-man jury unanimously found Elsa Herico guilty of trafficking dangerous drugs after a six-day trial.
Court of First Instance Judge J. Line imposed a 21-year imprisonment for the quantity of drugs, and added two years for the importation element or carrying drugs from overseas.
Herico pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge, claiming she did not know that the luggage given to her by a man she met in Kuala Lumpur concealed illegal drugs.
She was arrested on Nov. 9 last year after Customs officers discovered a sealed compartment in her luggage containing a package of 2.36 kilos of drug mixture, including 1.07 kilos of heroin.
Prosecutor John Hemmings said the seized drug mixture had a street value of HK$1.8 million.
“It is not in dispute that she is in possession of the suitcase. What is in dispute was that whether she knew that she was carrying drugs, regardless of type and value,” Hemmings said.
In a video of Herico’s interview with authorities, she said an empty black suitcase was given to her by a man she met in a convenience store for her to use as a shopping bag.
“The weight of 2.36 kilograms is a substantial weight in a suitcase itself, other than the items placed inside. Heroin constitutes a very significant weight of the suitcase as a whole,” Hemmings said.
Herico also had a smaller blue suitcase, a handbag and a plastic bag.
Hemmings said Herico’s blue suitcase was enough to carry her personal items in the black suitcase and the plastic bag.
“It is common sense that I would only take a suitcase to another country from someone whom I knew well and can trust. On her account, she only knew the man from a couple of months back and didn’t have his phone number or address,” he said.
Four Filipino tourists were earlier sentenced to jail terms this year for drug trafficking.
Last Aug. 30, the Court of First Instance sentenced Bernard Garcia to 30 years in jail. He was found guilty of bringing in 19.67 kilos of drug mixture, including 7.95 kilos of heroin and 1.05 kilo of morphine in July last year.
Lolito Balila was sentenced to 21 years imprisonment. He was arrested in August last year for carrying more than 25 kilos of illegal drugs, including more than 10 kilos of heroin and almost two kilos of morphine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more