Smuggler caught with 40 kg of drugs at Vancouver airport sentenced to 5 years in prison

A luggage carousel is seen at Vancouver International Airport. (CTV)

A 72-year-old man who was caught trying to smuggle 40 kilograms of cocaine and meth out of Vancouver in luggage bound for Hong Kong will serve five years in a B.C. prison before being deported.

Yun Chuen Wong was arrested at Vancouver International Airport in the fall of 2023 and remained in jail until his sentencing in March of this year.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of narcotics for the purposes of expropriation and two counts of drug trafficking and the judge’s decision was posted online last week.

The court heard Wong, who is a Chinese national, arrived in Vancouver from Hong Kong 12 days before his arrest. He and another visitor were flagged by Canada Border Services Agency as “as potentially being involved in suspected narcotics smuggling upon their departure from Canada,” Judge Diana Vandor wrote in her decision.

Wong arrived at the airport on Sept. 29, 2023, after missing three other flights he had been booked on in the preceding days, the court heard.

“He was driven by an unknown Asian male. He had two suitcases and one duffel bag with him. The unknown Asian male helped Mr. Wong check in both of his suitcases by handing them to the airline employee. Mr. Wong went through screening and walked towards the international passenger departure area,” Vandor wrote.

A search of his bags by border agents found 43 “vacuum sealed” packages, according to the decision.

“Mr. Wong was in possession of the drugs for the purposes of trafficking and for exporting out of Canada,” the judge wrote.

“An expert in the valuation and price structure of methamphetamine and cocaine opined that Mr. Wong is a drug courier. There was no evidence of personal use.”

The combined street value of the drugs in B.C. amounted to roughly $310,000. However, the court heard the value in Hong Kong was more than ten times that much – with the cocaine valued at just under $985,000 and the methamphetamine valued at just over $3.4 million.

The five-year-sentence was a joint submission by Crown and defence, and Vandor saw no reason to depart from the recommendation, emphasizing that Wong’s offences occurred against the backdrop of the transnational drug trade as part of an “organized crime scheme in which substantial profit is extracted from the destruction of lives and communities.”

The amount of drugs and their value were considered aggravating factors, as was the degree of planning that went into the attempted smuggling, the judge wrote.

“Mr. Wong admitted to officers that his friend Ken bought the plane ticket for him to visit Canada, and the email address that was used in buying the plane ticket was linked to previous methamphetamine seizures,” the court heard.

In the year leading up to his arrest, Wong had made six other short trips to Canada from Hong Kong – ranging from one to 16 days in duration – which the judge also found aggravating given that Wong admitted those tickets were also “occasionally” paid for by his friend Ken.

His attempts to “evade detection” by changing his departing flight were also deemed aggravating.

After credit for time served, Wong’s sentence amounted to an additional 1,031 days behind bars. After that, he will be deported to Hong Kong.