By Vir B. Lumicao
A former domestic helper who was arrested at the Hong Kong airport in February for bringing in about 4 kilograms of cocaine, was sentenced
to 16 years and six months in jail after she pleaded guilty on Nov 30.
Rizza Mae Argamaso had been in jail since since her arrest
on Feb 7 this year for carrying 3.7 kilograms of cocaine in her luggage, hidden
inside shoes, folders and handbags.
In sentencing, Judge Esther Toh gave a one-third discount
for Argamoso’s guilty plea.
John Wotherspoon, a chaplain of the
Correctional Services Department, said the discount also reflected the
defendant’s help in his campaign against Nigerian drug lords who have allegedly
duped innocent women into carrying drugs for them.
Argamaso, a nursing graduate, had
written a letter recounting how she first worked as a domestic helper in Hong Kong for one year and two months, got fired, then
found a new employer, a Pakistani who let her work illegally in his electronic
shop in Tsimshatsui.
Later she met another Filipina, “RJ”, who later
introduced her to the woman’s Nigerian boyfriend who is known in the drug
trafficking world as “Network” and based in Chung King Mansion
The meeting, set up because
Argomoso said she needed cash badly after helping out friends who suffered
losses in Macau casinos, led to her
involvement in the drug trade.
When the Hong Kong-based drug
syndicate asked her to run errands for them, she said she’d think about it and
went to Thailand
for a month, at the drug ring’s expense. That was followed by a trip to Brazil , where
she was instructed to pick up a luggage.
The luggage, which she took first
to the Philippines then to Hong Kong, spelled the end to all her journeys.
