Flight attendant Zailee Zainal who smuggled heroin in her underwear jailed for nine and a half years

A Malaysian flight attendant turned drug mule who smuggled millions of dollars worth of high grade heroin into Australia in her underwear has been jailed.

Malaysian flight attendant Zailee Zainal was sentenced to 9.5 years jail for smuggling heroin into Australia in her underwear.

A Malaysian flight attendant turned drug mule who smuggled millions of dollars worth of high grade heroin into Australia in her underwear has been sentenced to nine-and-half years jail.

Zailee Zainal, 40, faced life in prison for her role in the international drug syndicate under the direction of a nail technician dubbed “The Queen of Richmond” who oversaw more than 4kg of pure heroin brought into the country.

Michelle Tran, 48, earlier this year admitted her role as the Melbourne-based head of a major drug enterprise in which she enlisted an army of “soldiers” – including airline cabin crew – to act as mules and carry the illicit drugs to Australia to then traffick into the community on eight occasions between October and January 2019.

Zainal was working as an air hostess on budget airline Malindo Air in 2018 when she was recruited by a colleague to work as a mule as a way to make money for her seriously ill daughter.

On Thursday she was sentenced to a minimum of four years and nine months behind bars for one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

“You worked as an international courier for a highly sophisticated transnational drug syndicate,” County Court Judge Michael Cahill said.

“You were carefully trained to execute your role, using codes and changing flights to perform (the role) eight times,” he said.

Zainal told police it took her three months to learn to walk with the drugs between her legs and she was given a pillow to train with and “to help her walk with confidence”.

Each ticket of heroin weighed about 1kg and was split into three packets hidden in the flight attendant’s underwear and bra.

Zainal was recruited to work as a drug mule by a colleague at Malindo Air in late 2018.

Zainal told police it took her three months to learn how to walk with the drugs between her legs.

Queen Bee Tran would sell the tickets for close to $200,000 to her Australian customers and pocket about $20,000 commission for herself.

Meanwhile Zainal was promised $1700 per courier flight – though it is not believed she received this entire amount – and would exchange the heroin “tickets” with Tran’s “porters” in hotel bathrooms.

A joint operation involving Australian Border Force and Federal Police intercepted five of the eight importations during their investigation, totalling 6.6kg of heroin with a street value between $4-8 million.

Zainal was arrested on January 6 last year at Melbourne Airport.

She said she had been told by members of the syndicate she was not carrying drugs, but she deep down she knew she was.

In an earlier plea hearing, barrister Luke Barker, for Zainal, said the young mother had an “impeccable background”, void of any criminal history, and her offending was purely motivated by a desire to look after her family.

“That is, respectfully, the only rational way of explaining how such an admirable person became embroiled in such a nefarious trade,” Mr Barker said.

In sentencing, Judge Cahill said Zainal’s moral culpability was high but acknowledged she was desperate to raise money for her daughter’s medical care and the drug syndicate took advantage of her vulnerability.

“In those exceptional circumstances, I am of the view you are deserving of some leniency,” Judge Cahill said.

With time already served, Zainal will be eligible for parole in less than three years.

Tran will face court for a plea hearing on October 15.

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