As the new year dawned, Jae Young Choi was in trouble.
The 54-year-old hotel manager, who was born in Korea and lived with his family in Brazil, was in serious debt – he was $450,000 in the hole and stricken with a “serious gambling problem”.
Investigators found 2.5 kilograms of cocaine inside Jae Young Choi’s suitcases at Sydney Airport in 2023. Credit: iStock
A solution to Choi’s financial woes appeared to present itself when he agreed to deliver a package to Sydney from Brazil at the start of 2023.
Whatsapp messages show he agreed to “make a trip” in conversation with someone known only as Seong-il in February of that year.
It was the second such trip that Choi had undertaken at the behest of Seong-il, the District Court heard in a judgement handed down last week.
Later that month, Seong-il instructed Choi to check in “two big bags” and bring “the small bag” as carry-on luggage.
“It passed the test,” Seong-il said.
“They are saying that’s the best way to bring them … If you put a small bag in a big bag, that can look suspicious.”
Choi’s bags were deemed suspicious by the Australian Border Force officials when he landed at Kingsford Smith Airport late at night on March 9, 2023, after a gruelling flight from Brazil’s Guarulhos via Dubai.
Upon arrival, x-rays revealed six bricks of cocaine hidden in the linings, base and internal perimeter of his three suitcases.
Choi was arrested and told investigators from the Australian Federal Police that a Brazilian named Reginald had offered to pay him $US1000 and cover his travel costs to bring the bags to Sydney, where someone would collect the luggage from his hotel.
He had no idea the suitcases contained drugs, he told investigators, and checked the bags to see if there was anything suspicious but did not find anything.
This was not the first time Choi had been in such trouble – he had previously served a sentence for a year and eight months for drug trafficking in Brazil.
Choi told police that his gambling debt would be wiped upon the successful completion of his job.
Choi was refused bail upon his arrest in 2023, and spent 710 days on remand before his sentence this month.
Judge Andrew Scotting sentenced him to a minimum of two years and nine months in prison, meaning he will be eligible for release in December.
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