The man, whose name the NCB did not disclose, was tried by the Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin.

He was detained by Chinese authorities at Binhai International Airport on June 23 after being caught with 995.72 grammes of heroin hidden in the lining of his suitcase. He had arrived from Kuala Lumpur aboard AirAsia flight D72612.

The Bruneian is believed to have been enticed into smuggling the drugs by an African man who heads an international dtug syndicate, said the NCB.

The African man reportedly lures people into becoming "drug mules" by chatting online and sets up meetings in Malaysia between his "contact" and the potential mules.

The statement also said that the Australian authorities are continuing their investigation following the arrest of a Bruneian in Sydney. However, the statement did not clarify whether the investigation was related to drugs or related to the arrest of a Brunei woman at Sydney International Airport earlier this year for allegedly smuggling heroin.

The life sentence handed down to the man in Tianjin follows a Brunei woman being sentenced to life imprisonment in June, also for smuggling heroin.

The NCB urged all people to be wary of overly lucrative deals from unknown persons to work or travel abroad, with a special note for parents to ensure their children are not tricked into such arrangements.

The NCB also asked for people to report any suspicious activities that may be related with drugs to the bureau at 2448877 during office hours or on their hotline 8777444. -- Courtesy of The Brunei Times

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written by Dreston , December 02, 2009

Why so many Bruneians nowadays are lured by African drug syndicates to disperse their 'cargoes' around? How did they find these people, even online, and know they will likely to accept the offer? Should understand that this type of act can't possibly be made that public when they search for the victims.

Recently I heard there are a lots of scams to trick people into giving up their personal information, like say for something 'free'. Can these be affiliated with the drug groups? Depend on the type of scheme, your decision can be used to predict your economic desperation sometimes.

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