Richmond resident potentially facing the death penalty in China for allegedly trafficking methamphetamine said he thought he was merely carrying performance-enhancing peptides used for sport.
In explosive and detailed testimony, Peter Gardner, 26, told a court on Thursday, May 7 in the southern metropolis of Guangzhou that he had been duped into being a drug mule by a sophisticated international smuggling syndicate with connections reaching into baggage handlers at Sydney Airport.
"This is the biggest mistake of my life," he told the Guangzhou Intermediate Court wearing handcuffs and dressed in a light grey suit.
Mr Gardner, who was born in New Zealand but has lived in Australia for the past 18 years, said he paid his supplier about $13,000 for a range of different peptides and tanning agents which were popular, he said, in Sydney’s rugby and bodybuilding circles.
Instead, Mr Gardner was stopped from boarding his Sydney-bound China Southern flight from Guangzhou in November with travelling companion Kalynda Davis, after customs officials detected 30 kilograms of the drug methamphetamine, also commonly known as ice, in their bags. With a rough Australian street value of $18 million, it was the biggest single haul of the drug ever seized at the airport.
"It should have been peptides," he said, adding that he felt "scared, worried and panicked" when he realised what was really in his bags.
The drugs were contained in two black pieces of luggage dropped off by two Chinese men at Mr Gardner’s hotel just hours before his flight, the court heard.
The zipper to the main compartment of each bag was superglued shut, which meant he hadn’t checked its contents. But he was unconcerned because the same occurred when he made a successful run from Guangzhou in September.
"I was stupid. I thought it was so easy. I got ahead of myself," he said.
But prosecutors said it was "against common sense" that Mr Gardner would not check his bags for his goods having spent the money he claimed. Crucially, they said his DNA was found on the drug packaging. Mr Gardner’s defence lawyer Richard Zhang said the evidence had been contaminated by customs officials.
Hotel security footage of Mr Gardner receiving the bags at his hotel was shown to the court, as was video of the eventual bust by custom officials, laying out bag after bag of ice on a table. Mr Gardner broke down as he spoke of the hurt he had caused to his parents and pleaded for the judges to take into account his young age, contrition and cooperation with police.
"I’d like to go home before I’m old," he said, as his father wiped tears from his face.
Mr Gardner said he trusted his supplier and considered him a good friend, having worked in his capacity as a carpenter on the source’s various housing extensions.
He said he was relayed detailed instructions to follow on his Blackberry, including a specific China Southern flight to catch back to Sydney whose scheduled arrival coincided with the shift times of the syndicate’s baggage handlers. Mr Gardner was due to fly onward to Auckland after a layover in Sydney.
"They can smuggle anything, and they can get it for cheap," he said. "Drugs, pharmaceuticals, anything."
The court also heard customs officials had initially arrested Kalynda Davis because airline staff had checked in both bags under her name.
But Mr Gardner, still believing the bags contained peptides, claimed responsibility for the bags, explaining he had brought Ms Davis along so he would have a greater luggage check-in allowance.
Ms Davis was eventually released after police were satisfied she had no connection with the drugs.
Mr Gardner, a dual Australian and New Zealand national, was supported in court by his ashen-faced parents. New Zealand consul-general Rebecca Needham and other consular officials also attended. Consular assistance is being provided by the New Zealand consulate-general in Guangzhou, as he entered China on his New Zealand passport.
Mr Gardner is one of several Australians detained in Guangzhou facing serious drug charges which could attract the death penalty.
Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province, which has gained notoriety as a major manufacturing hub for synthetic drugs like ice, favoured by international drug syndicates for its regional transport links and ready availability of precursor chemicals. Under China’s strict drug laws, anyone caught with 50 grams or more of heroin or methamphetamine is liable for capital punishment.
This story first appeared on the Sydney Morning Herald website.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-peter-gardner-fronts-chinese-court-on-drug-smuggling-charges-20150507-ggwg60.html
