Huge drug deal earns 17 years' jail

An Auckland man who was described as being awash with unexplained income, was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in jail for importing methamphetamine hidden in lava lamps.

Alex Kwong Wong, 37, was told in the High Court at Auckland that he would have to serve a minimum of eight years behind bars.

In June, after a four-week trial, a jury found Wong guilty on two charges of importing methamphetamine, and one each of supplying the drug, possessing it for supply and money-laundering.

All but the money-laundering count carried maximum sentences of life imprisonment.

Three other co-accused, one of whom has been deported back to China, were acquitted of the charges they faced.

The methamphetamine was alleged to have arrived in New Zealand hidden in two shipments of lava lamps which were intercepted by customs officers in May and July 2004.

The total quantity was estimated at 12.5kg, with a value of between $3.5 million and $12.5 million.

Justice Helen Winkelmann said drug importing had "a terrible human cost" and she had to hold Wong accountable for what was serious offending.

She said the evidence was that Wong was an organiser of the shipments, which were part of a complex operation involving contacts in Hong Kong.

But she wasn't satisfied that he was the prime mover at the New Zealand end, as submitted by the Crown, and gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Justice Winkelmann said the aggravating features including the level of planning and large quantities involved.

She saw no mitigating features, and did not take into account the fact that Wong was due to be a prosecution witness in an unrelated murder trial.

Wong arrived in New Zealand from southern China in 1987.

Among his previous convictions was one in 1994 for kidnapping, for which he was sentenced to nine years in prison.

He was released in 1997 and the court was told he worked in his family's takeaway shop until it closed in 2002.

Crown prosecutor Bruce Northwood said Wong and his family "appeared to be awash with disposal income for a time".

Mr Northwood, arguing for a jail term of about 25 years, described Wong as a serious drug dealer and the offending as premeditated and sophisticated.

Defence counsel John Haigh, QC, said Wong was more of a "trusted lieutenant" than a senior figure in the ring, while the method of importing was simplistic and risky.

Mr Haigh, who submitted a starting point for sentencing of 15 to 16 years, asked the judge to take Wong's rehabilitation into consideration and to hand down a term that gave him hope for the future.

Outside the court, Detective Sergeant John Sowter from the Auckland drug squad said he believed the sentence imposed was appropriate.

Mr Sowter said Wong, arrested after telephone traffic linked him to the shipments, owned a $90,000 Porsche and a $120,000 Mercedes, both paid for by cash.

He added that Wong gambled more than $1 million at the Sky City casino over a four-year period.

- NZPA