KEY POINTS:
Picking up $8 million of methamphetamine was the only reason two Chinese nationals were in Wellington last January, a jury was told today.
The eight-day trial of Chun Yu Ng, 24, and Xiaohui Huang, 26, neared its end in the High Court at Wellington as the Crown prosecutor
and defence lawyers delivered their summaries.
Ng is charged with possession of methamphetamine for supply, conspiracy to supply and being a party to importing the drug.
Huang is charged with possession of methamphetamine for supply and conspiracy to supply.
In his summary, Crown prosecutor Kenneth Stone said both of the defendants had been caught red-handed.
Customs officials had intercepted a courier parcel from China at Auckland Airport on January 22 last year which contained 8.193kg of methamphetamine hidden inside water filters. Police replaced most of the drug with a harmless white powder.
A customs official disguised as a courier delivered the package to Ng on January 25. Ng passed it on to Huang, who had it in her hotel room when she was arrested, Mr Stone said.
"I suggest there was no credible reason for [Ng] to be in Wellington, other than to receive the drugs."
Huang's defence -- that she had no idea she was dealing with illicit drugs -- was not credible either, he said.
"Would Miss Huang really have come to Wellington for the express purpose of picking up some milk powder and putting it in a safety deposit box? It just doesn't make sense."
Ng's lawyer, Greg King, spoke of the elaborate system of "Chinese walls" that kept the two accused from knowing too much about the smuggling operation, or who the kingpin was.
"It is, without doubt, a pernicious and evil substance that is wreaking havoc on segments of our society. That there are Asian syndicates peddling this is a terrible thing.
"But you cannot punish these two people in the dock for that," he said.
"Chun Yu Ng came to New Zealand for a six-day tour. He has been here a lot longer than that. Chun Yu Ng was an expendable commodity. He was used and abused. Whatever happened, he was not a part of it."
Huang's lawyer, Chris Comeskey, made a long, emotive plea to the jury.
"This woman was exploited. There was no doubt to that at all.
"There is only one place for my client to go and that is back to China. The only people who can do that are you."
He called into question the integrity of the police investigation, especially Huang's eight-hour police interrogation.
"All of a sudden, they are in the same league as the Auckland detectives. They get white line fever. They got to throw someone in the pokey," he told the jury.
"The Crown knew that Miss Huang entered into the interview for about eight hours, against an experienced detective. She didn't falter once. There was not a question she did not answer."
Though conceding it looked like his client was guilty, Mr Comeskey said the Crown did not have a case against her.
"It would be a travesty if she got convicted," he said.
The judge will sum up on Thursday.
- NZPA
