KUALA LUMPUR – A Malaysian mother and daughter are suing the Australian government after spending four months in jail because their teabags were erroneously assumed to be drugs, even after negative test results.
The baffling incident has since taken international media by storm, with various news sites questioning the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions’ refusal to compensate the victims.
Connie Chong and her daughter Melanie Lim were attempting to import 25kg of brown ginger tea into Australia. Marketed as a product that aids menstrual pain, the women planned to sell the tea at A$90 (RM270) profit per five boxes.
Alas, their endeavours were put to a premature stop as two of their shipments were intercepted and seized by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers at Sydney Airport on January 17.
Claiming that the packages contain phenmetrazine, Bankstown police charged the women with commercial drug supply, an offence that carries a lifetime prison sentence, and denied them bail.
Newspaper Sydney Morning Herald reported that the Downing Local Court was told that the presumptive test used by the ABF to identify the shipment as a prohibited substance merely generated a spectrum of similar substances to the one detected.
As testament to the inconclusive nature of the test, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) do not rely upon it to conduct investigations.
In fact, a forensic operator from AFP had written to Bankstown detective Tara Conaghan in February advising her to have the sample tested independently to confirm that it contained phenmetrazine.
“The ABF ‘hazmat’ test only identified phenmetrazine as the fourth most likely substance contained in the seized shipment, behind sugar, sucrose, and powdered sugar,” he said.
Conaghan, however, failed to pass this information onto the women’s defence team, causing them to remain behind bars.
In April, another AFP officer had emailed Conaghan informing her that prohibited substances were not detected in the laboratory results of two earlier seizures of similar products.
“Our forensics are engaging with ABF over their testing. They advise it’s a training issue with the ABF on how they interpreted the results,” the newspaper quoted the officer as saying.
This prompted Conaghan to request for forensic testing of the samples related to the pair to be expedited.
Under cross-examination by Steve Boland, Chong’s barrister, the detective admitted that she did not inform the women of AFP’s ruling on earlier seizures.
When pressed for a reason, the detective attempted to justify her actions by saying: “Because the drugs were still waiting to be completely tested.”
In response, Boland asked incredulously: “So, what, they’ve got to sit it out in jail?”
His question was greeted with silence from Conaghan.
Chong and Lim were not released on bail until May, with the charges against them being withdrawn only on August 10 after New South Wales Police received their own forensic analysis results.
They are now suing for legal costs, but the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions has refused to pay.
The case has been adjourned to March next year. – The Vibes, November 23, 2021
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