A Chinese national has been given a five-year prison sentence after being charged with attempting to smuggle 40 kilograms of drugs from Vancouver to Hong Kong.
The defence and Crown made a joint submission for Yun Chuen Wong, 72, who was arrested at Vancouver International Airport in September 2023 after methamphetamine and cocaine was found in his luggage. He pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of narcotics for the purposes of expropriation and two counts of drug trafficking.
Wong entered Canada on Sept. 17, 2023, and was permitted entry as a visitor, B.C. Provincial Court Judge Diana Vandor wrote in her decision.
Wong was booked on a flight for 12:55 a.m. on Sept. 29, 2023, after missing three other flights in the preceding days. Upon arrival at the airport with another visitor, he checked in two suitcases and carried a duffel bag.
Border agents searched the luggage and found 17 vacuum-sealed bags of suspected drugs in one case, and 26 vacuum sealed bags of suspected drugs in the other case.
“Health Canada later determined that the suspected drugs in the suitcases were in fact cocaine and methamphetamine,” the judge wrote.
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The combined weight of the drugs was 40.90 kilograms. The court decision noted that the combined estimated street value of the drugs in Canada was around $310,00, while the estimated street value of the drugs in Hong Kong was more than $3.4 million.
Wong had no criminal record or any previous interactions with the justice system. He had entered Canada six times since November 2022, the court document says.
Wong said he had come to Canada to sightsee and travel, but the judge said that “does not reconcile with the frequency and duration of his six previous visits to Canada.”
Wong had also claimed in his defence to have used the crystal meth for personal use to stay awake, but the judge questioned this argument.
“It does not reconcile with the expert’s opinion that there was no evidence of personal use. It also does not reconcile with the fact that Mr. Wong reported taking crystal meth during a time when he would have been in custody,” said the court document.
During sentencing, Wong told the court he was “truly sorry for what I did.“ The judge said though Wong expressed some remorse for his actions, he ”appears to have limited insight into their consequences.”
Judge Vandor said there were six aggravating factors in the case, including the type of drugs involved, the quantity, and street value of drugs.
“The value of the drugs speaks to the profit of the criminal organization that Mr. Wong is employed by,” says the court document.
The judge said other factors taken into account were that the crime was profit-motivated, and premeditated, and that Wong had taken measures to avoid detection.
She wrote that mitigating factors included his guilty plea, his “advancing age and ailing health,” and lack of a criminal record.
“At the conclusion of his sentence, Mr. Wong will be deported and sent back to Hong Kong. In my view, the certainty of his deportation is best understood as a collateral consequence that is relevant to his sentencing,” the court decision said.
“A global jail sentence of five years would be adequate to sufficiently address the principles of denunciation and deterrence.”
He was given credit for time spent in jail, leaving nearly three years yet to be served.
