Drug smuggling dad and daughter are jailed

Nov 3 2009 By Hannah Webster and Adam Courtney

Drugs raid

A FATHER and daughter from Spelthorne have been jailed for their part in a £300k gang operation to smuggle 4.2kg of pure cocaine into Britain.

Cecilia Ci Ci Ying, 28, of Saville Crescent, Ashford, was sentenced to 10 years for conspiracy to import cocaine.

Her father Stephen Kwong On Man, 52, of Bingley Road, Sunbury, was sentenced to 12 years for conspiracy to supply and conspiracy to import cocaine after he was convicted at trial.

Mother-of-two Ying, who has boys aged two and seven, was described at Birmingham Crown Court as being a 'devoted wife and mother'.
Her lawyer, Nicholas Dunham, told the court: "She was brought in to this, it's something that was very out of character for her and something that is very regrettable. It continues to hurt her very hard."

Man used his logistics company to make the importations look legitimate and used his daughter in the operations because she spoke better English.

His lawyer, David Burgess, said: "He was drawn into a level of criminality with which he was wholly inexperienced. The hardest part of his sentence is the knowledge he exposed his daughter, leading to her arrest and conviction. It's a heavy burden that he carries with him today, and for a very long time."

How much money the gang will have confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Act will be decided at a hearing next year when the finances of all the defendants has been examined in detail.

The others sentenced included Paul Price, of Weeford, near Lichfield, who helped facilitate the communication to organise the smuggling, Richard Williams, of Marshall Close, Aldridge, and Lee Wilson, of Elmore Close, Coventry.