A B.C. woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison after she was caught in Langley with a brick of fentanyl weighing almost a kilogram.
“Drug trafficking is a scourge on our society, rooted in greed on the part of those who perpetrate it,” Justice Gordon Weatherill said in his newly released Jan. 10 decision. “Many vulnerable people are dying as a result of that greed."
Mission resident Hong Dinh a.k.a. Carrie Dinh was convicted in April of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
Weatherill said the 994-gram brick had purity of between 62 per cent and 71 per cent.
Such a volume could produce 200,000 to 600,000 doses with a street value of $5 million to $9 million, he said.
Dinh, 35, was arrested on May 3, 2019 after police surveillance observed her travelling by ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsawwassen, and then driving to a parking lot in Langley.
There, she met with another vehicle, exchanged bags with the driver, and put a blue cloth bag she received in the trunk of her vehicle.
She then drove back towards the Tsawwassen ferry terminal and was arrested prior to her arrival at the terminal.
“The fentanyl brick was found in the blue cloth bag in her vehicle's trunk,” Weatherill said.
Dinh claimed no knowledge of what she was transporting.
He said Dinh has no addiction history or a criminal record.
“It appears that Ms. Dinh is a person who led a productive and law‑abiding life, but made a mistake that was out of character and became involved in the drug‑trafficking world. It appears that since her conviction, she has returned to a productive and law‑abiding life.”
While conceding Dinh was a "mere courier," the Crown asked for a nine-year sentence.
The defence had sought a sentence between four and six years.
