Fook Choi Ching: Terminally ill drug runner in epic $91m Mega Profit II bust released early as appeal succeeds

A man who played a pivotal role in an international meth syndicate that imported a staggering 182kg of ice into WA has been acquitted after almost a decade behind bars, but is now terminally ill and will be deported. Fook Choi Ching was among seven Malaysian and Chinese men convicted in 2017 over his role in one of the biggest ice hauls in the State’s history, worth an estimated $91 million. A marathon Supreme Court trial was told how the trawler named “Mega Profit II” stopped 100km off the Mid West coast before a tender was launched and the drugs brought to a remote beach in early morning darkness. The prosecution case was that Ching was among three men who waited to receive 15 bags containing the drugs, loaded them into vehicles and transported them to a Wilbinga rest stop, where they were handed over for distribution - coordinated by a man named “Fat Boy”. Later raids on “safe houses” in East Cannington and Embleton uncovered the 80 per cent pure contraband, and cigarette butts bearing Ching’s DNA were found at the landing site. But he told police that he did not know the bags contained meth and instead thought they were filled with illicit tobacco or alcohol. He maintained that argument at the epic trial, which initially involved 13 accused, and a phalanx of lawyers and interpreters. The prosecution described those explanations as incredible, saying the operation involved “a fair bit of cost” and the duty avoided for cigarettes or alcohol would have been comparatively low. Ching, however, pointed to a Border Force officer’s evidence that the duty applicable to tobacco in Australia was high and that the profit from dodging it could be significant. Ching also relied on testimony by an Organised Crime Squad detective, who said that those lower down in a drug cartel’s hierarchy usually had very little knowledge of the actual organisation - and sometimes might be entirely unaware that they were involved in that industry. And in a spectacular ruling handed down this week, the full bench of the WA Court of Appeal concluded that the trial judge had - in directions to the jury - misstated the Border Force officer’s evidence, effectively labelling it irrelevant. The directions also gave the jury the impression that the detective’s evidence could be considered speculative and outside his expertise. “The cumulative effect of those directions had the effect of undermining very significant aspects of the appellant’s case,” the appeal judges said. After losing the trial, Ching was jailed for 23 years and made eligible for parole after 15 years. But having spent nearly 10 years in prison and now faced with a “very short” life expectancy, he will not have to undergo a retrial. The appeal judges applauded prosecutors for recognising Ching’s terminal illness and cooperating to ensure the hearing was speedy and fair.