Man in $40m drug trade gets 11yrs jail
Hong Kong accused the fourth to be sentenced after sophisticated meth racket
AHong Kong man involved in a $40 million drug trade from China to New Zealand has been jailed, the fourth to be sentenced after a sophisticated syndicate was busted.
Last month the Herald revealed details of the intricate operation which began with the recruitment of “drug catchers” in Asia, sent specifically to Auckland to expedite the importation of crystal meth for the New Zealand drug market.
Ka Kit Yim was arrested on March 2 last year while driving his Mercedes-Benz through Auckland. Yesterday he was sentenced in the High Court at Auckland to 11-and-ahalf years in prison for possession of a class A drug for supply.
Yim, who also goes by the name Christopher Yim, was the fourth person sentenced as part of Operation Coral, a covert surveillance sting by the Organised Crime Agency and New Zealand Customs after the discovery of nearly 40kg of meth.
As part of the operation, police found Yim had a further 1kg of methamphetamine and $1.8 million in cash hidden in his luxury sports cars and Auckland properties.
Justice Geoffrey Venning said Yim, who arrived in New Zealand three years ago, was unable to provide an explanation for his lavish lifestyle.
“The more people involved in this the more difficult it is for the authorities to apprehend those involved and locate the methamphetamine.”
Yim’s explanation for the 1kg of meth was that he was holding it for a friend “out of the goodness of [his] heart”, Venning said.
He said Yim’s remorse for the offending was “non-existent”.
“This court regularly sees the harm that methamphetamine does members of the community.”
Investigations into the drug syndicate began after the discovery of 39.6kg of crystal meth hidden in a shipment of “granite tea trays” from China in February last year.
Court documents show the crystals, with a purity of 76 per cent, were the equivalent to 30kg of P. Customs estimated the shipment had a street value of $40 million.
After the discovery, Customs replaced most of the drugs with a placebo and tracked the delivery to a Forrest Hill property where Taiwan national Tze Te Hung and Chinese man Yen Hua Chen were living.
The pair gave Yim a large plastic bag carrying the repackaged placebo, but he soon discovered he’d received fake meth, and arranged to again meet Hung and Chen to return it.
The same day, March 1, Hung arranged to meet Kit Hing Wong, who had travelled from Wellington to sample the imported drugs.
The next day, Yim was arrested and police found a small bag of the placebo in his Mercedes.
On March 3, police raided secure car parks, storage units, and luxury vehicles belonging to Yim. Inside his Lamborghini police found $932,160 in cash, while $550,650 in cash was found inside a BMW.
At a Newmarket apartment complex, 1kg of methamphetamine was discovered, along with an additional $141,940 in a BMW.
A further $214,708 was found at Yim’s Panmure home.
Last month Hung was sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison, while Chen was last year jailed for 12 years and six months.
Wong was sentenced in February to home detention and ordered to undergo drug counselling. to