Jail for smuggler who thought he was smuggling “birds nests”

By Fiona Ferguson

A Malaysian man who believed he was importing edible birds’ nests until gardai found €380,000 of cannabis in his suitcase has been given a sentence of three and a half years with nine months suspended.

Chong Chong Nen (50) was on what he believed to be an “all expenses paid” trip to Ireland, paid for by a man he knew only online who asked him to bring a suitcase along with him.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that a second man, Kim Low Swee (35), caught on the same day with a similar amount of cannabis, also told gardai he believed he was carrying bird nests.

Low Swee, also from Malaysia, received a sentence of three years and six months, with the final 12 months suspended earlier this month.

Chong Chong Nen of Jln Pandan Indah, 2/8 LK Lumpar, Malaysia, pleaded guilty to possession of cannabis for sale and supply at Terminal 1, Dublin Airport, on June 2, 2024. He has no previous convictions and has been in custody since his arrest on the day of the offence.

Passing sentence, Judge Dara Hayes noted the deleterious effect of drug crime on communities and on wider society.

Judge Hayes said Chong Nen, who works as a delivery driver, was accepted to be on the lowest wrung of the “ladder”, and there was no evidence of any wealth. He noted he was a foreign national, and time in prison would be more difficult for him.

He said there were “specific and exceptional” circumstances in the case which allowed him to depart from the presumptive minimum sentence of ten-year imprisonment, citing the manner in which he had dealt with the case, his early plea and his cooperation and admissions.

He set a headline sentence of five and a half years before imposing a term of three years and six months. He suspended the final nine months, noting Chong Nen had not committed the offence due to significant financial pressure as Low Swee had done.

Garda Jaime Connor told Shaun Smyth, BL, prosecuting, that customs officers stopped and questioned Chong Nen after he was spotted acting in an evasive manner in the blue customs channel.

The officers x-rayed his bag and had to open it with a bolt cutter as Chong Nen had no key.

Inside, they found vacuum-packed bags of cannabis wrapped in a blanket, valued at €389,800.

Chong Nen gave an account of travelling from Malaysia, Thailand, Doha, and Ireland. He said he was a tourist and a man he met online, whom he knew only by nickname, had booked and paid for the flights and accommodation.

He said his friend had asked him to take the case to Ireland, and he understood it to contain edible birds’ nests, which are an Asian delicacy.

Gda Connor agreed with Philip Rahn SC, defending, that Chong Nen was cooperative on arrest and forthcoming with gardai. He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and has been a model prisoner.

Gad Connor agreed Chong Nen had no trappings of wealth and had given an account of carrying this out for an all-expenses paid trip to Ireland. Mr Rahn said this was huge for Chong Nen, who had never travelled before, and he had made a stupid decision to bring contraband to Ireland.

The garda accepted his role was that of a drug courier and he was at the very bottom of the ladder.

Mr Rahn handed in a letter of apology and remorse from his client to the court.

He asked the court to take into account his very early guilty plea, how quickly the case has moved, his lack of prior convictions, and how difficult serving a custodial sentence will be for him as a foreign national. He asked the court to leave “light at the end of the tunnel.”

He said his client was at the lowest level of the operation, and there was a lack of sophistication.