Chinese man caught with £300k worth of cannabis could be trafficking victim
The High Court in Glasgow heard that 26-year-old Hou Sheng Yang owed money in his Chinese homeland
A man caught with £300,000 of cannabis in a suitcase may be a victim of people trafficking, a court was told.
The High Court in Glasgow heard that 26-year-old Hou Sheng Yang, who was caught red-handed with the drug, owed money in his Chinese homeland.
His defence counsel Tony Lenehan said: “He was told there was a way to deal with this. He would come to the UK and there were promises of comfort and success here.”
Mr Lenehan said the reality was very different and claimed Yang, who knew no-one in the UK, except those who brought him over here, existed in 'a twilight world.”
The court was told that there is an ongoing Home Office investigation into the circumstances surrounding Yang's arrival in the UK.
He has been visited twice in Barlinnie Prison by Home Office officials.
Mr Lenehan said he was in Wolverhampton before being brought to Glasgow and described his time in the English city as involving "major pressure.”
He added: “The move to Glasgow represented some release from that control.”
Yang was snared after police received a tip-off that a flat in Glasgow's Sighthill was being used as a drugs safe house.
He was spotted carrying a heavy suitcase into the property in March this year.
Prosecutor Michael Meehan said that vacuum packs of cannabis were found in the case.
A total of almost 30 kilos of the drug was discovered in the case and the flat.
Mr Meehan: “He said he had been in the UK for a holiday. He refused to provide a Chinese address.”
Lord Matthews deferred sentence on Yang until next month and said: “That will give the Home Office the opportunity to consider the case and their determination will assist me in deciding my sentence."
“If he is a victim of trafficking it would affect the sentence I impose.”
Yang will be sentenced at the High Court in Aberdeen next month.
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