Phones of Chinese drug accused not yet released

The mobile phones of three Chinese nationals charged with drug offences will not be released yet after State prosecutors were granted more time to provide detailed information to the court.

Yu Yuan Feng, Dai Ming Hui and Zhou Lan appeared before Senior Magistrate Sufia Hamza at the Suva Magistrates Court yesterday.

They are accused of being found in possession of 39.5 grams of methamphetamine. Zhou and Dai also face additional charges of possessing more than $7,000 in local and foreign currency, suspected to be proceeds of crime.

State prosecutor Samisoni Eoghn told the court that the investigating officer had only provided a brief description of the phones, as they had not yet been accessed.

He said only the phones belonging to Yu and Zhou could be considered for release at this stage.

Magistrate Hamza expressed disappointment, saying the State had already been given days to sort out the matter, but allowed an additional day for compliance.

In a related issue, Eoghn said a letter had been sent to the Fiji Corrections Service regarding an alleged assault on Dai at the Suva Remand Centre, and the State was still awaiting a response.

Meanwhile, Ginna Choi, Lagomarchino Baules and Pauliasi Delai made a separate appearance before Magistrate Hamza on the State’s application to consolidate their matters.

All matters were adjourned to December 31 for a further compliance check.