Meth smuggler arrested at the airport fronts court

A senior citizen who should have been enjoying his twilight years has paid a heavy penalty for trying to smuggle 12kg of meth into Melbourne.

A 78-year-old international drug mule has copped a 12-year prison sentence for trying to smuggle a substantial amount of meth through Melbourne Airport.

A 78-year-old drug mule was arrested at Melbourne Airport while trying to smuggle nearly 12kg of meth into Australia from the US.

Sun Luu has been jailed for 12 years after pleading guilty in the County Court to a charge of importing a commercial quantity of a border control drug.

The Vietnam-born, Canadian citizen and California-based man arrived in Melbourne with a woman on the morning of June 8, 2022.

Luu’s intended length of stay in Australia was 10 days but he was booked to leave the country on July 2.

He told quarantine officials he was not bringing any goods into the country, including illicit drugs. Luu did declare that he was bringing food and plant items. His suitcase was X-rayed and appeared to contain several packages of organic material. A biosecurity officer found seven cardboard boxes similar in size and shape to a shoebox.

A drug mule was caught with nearly 12kg of methylamphetamine stuffed in his suitcase at Melbourne Airport.

Each box contained a black plastic bag containing a white crystallised substance. He told officials the white substance was muoi which is salt in Vietnamese.

Luu then put his index finger in the white substance and licked it off his finger.

Judge Frances Dalziel said CCTV footage showed Luu was visibly uncomfortable and gesticulated vigorously with his hand in front of his mouth after tasting the substance which returned a presumptive result for methylamphetamine.

He told Australian Border Control officers he was carrying the items for a friend and that it was some kind of cosmetic.

“You said an elderly friend with whom you had coffee had asked you to bring this along with you and that it was supposed to be for a nail salon,” Judge Dalziel said.

Luu told the Australian Federal Police, “The suitcase is not mine. I carried it for a friend. I only have a backpack so I don’t know what’s in the suitcase for my friend. I just help him by taking to the airport and give it to a person that he told me to.”

Judge Dalziel said the methylamphetamine weighed 11.9kg— 15.9 times the commercial quantity for that drug.

He will have to serve eight years before being eligible for parole.