Hong Kong imprisons Australian drug traffickers

HONG KONG, Apr 3 (Reuters) A Hong Kong court today sentenced three Australians, including two teenagers, to between nine and 13 years imprisonment for trying to smuggle heroin to Australia.

In a case that again put Australian drug traffickers in the spotlight, a spokeswoman for Hong Kong's High Court said Hutchinson Tran had been jailed for 13 years and four months, Rachel Ann Diaz to 10 years and eight months and Chris Ha Vo to nine years.

The three were arrested in April in a Hong Kong hotel room with 701.8 grams of heroin, a court statement said.

Prosecutors had argued that the three planned to swallow condoms stuffed with heroin and fly to Sydney, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, which said Tran was 25 years old, Diaz was 18 and Vo was 16.

Hong Kong's maximum sentence for trafficking drugs is life imprisonment plus a fine of HK 5 million dollors.

The Hong Kong case comes just four months after Singapore hanged 25-year-old Australian Nguyen Tuong Van for carrying 400 grams of heroin while in transit in the island state, sparking outrage among Australian politicians and the public.

In another high-profile case, Australian model Michelle Leslie was sentenced in November to three months imprisonment in Indonesia for possessing ecstasy pills but was released a day later.

REUTERS OM RS1733