Sydney grandmother Lorn Cheng smuggled heroin from Cambodia to pay off gambling debts

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Sydney grandmother Lorn Cheng smuggled heroin from Cambodia to pay off gambling debts

By Jessica Kidd

A Sydney grandmother says she agreed to smuggle pellets of heroin into Australia because she owed $10,000 in gambling debts.

Lorn Cheng pleaded guilty to swallowing and smuggling 252 pellets of heroin, with a total weight of 643.6 grams.

A New South Wales Downing Centre District Court judge today sentenced her to eight years prison with a non-parole period of four years.

Cheng was arrested at Sydney Airport in January this year after an eight-week holiday in Cambodia.

Speaking through an interpreter, the 52-year-old grandmother told the court a man in Cambodia approached her and asked if she wanted to smuggle the drugs into Australia.

Cheng told the court that she agreed because she was told she would be paid $25,000 on delivery of the drugs.

The single mother of six, who grew up in Cambodia under Pol Pot, told the court that she owed around $10,000 in gambling debts.

"I was depressed, I had to look after the children myself, I began to drink and I was gambling," she said through the Khmer interpreter.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-07/grandmother-lorn-cheng-jailed-for-smuggling-heroin-from-cambodia/6681470

[godden]

Typical Aussie.

[godden]

i am being facetious

[soalbundy]

with the interest accumulating that will be a lot of debt when she gets out,probably be paid with a gunshot.

[shaurene]

Typical Aussie.

Out of order Boyo, she grew up in Cambodia, not a typical Aussi,

[SOTIRIOS]

...sounds like a bs sob story......

[klauskunkel]

"I was depressed, I had to look after the children myself, I began to drink and I was gambling," she said through the Khmer interpreter.

...and, what's more, she wasted my time reading...

lock up the grandma!

Edited August 8, 2015 by klauskunkel

[bristolgeoff]

enjoy the states hotel for a few years

[vogie]

i am being facetious

Thanks for letting us know.

[sanuk711]

Typical Aussie.

Oh Yes------------her name is Lorn Cheng, ....& she has to Speak through an interpreter,

I guess that would qualify her for citizenship..........

[tomyumchai]

the cost of the 8 week holiday could have reduced the $10,000 debt too...... because she didnt go there with the intention of smuggling drugs back, did she?

[Centrum]

Typical Aussie.

Out of order Boyo, she grew up in Cambodia, not a typical Aussi,

Do some research yourself, boyo.

Australia's population is made up of people born in other countries or their decendants.

That makes her a very typical Aussie

[Si Thea01]

Typical Aussie.

And you're a typical ?

Edited August 8, 2015 by Si Thea01

[Si Thea01]

i am being facetious

We know and so was I.

[ezzra]

She should thank her lucky stars Australia is not like her neighbors namely Indonesia, China Malaysia atc, etc.,

where she would have a date with a handsome noose rope... as Australia is very lenient and forgiving

when it come to drug's crimes...

[callaway]

Typical Aussie.

Out of order Boyo, she grew up in Cambodia, not a typical Aussi,

Do some research yourself, boyo.

Australia's population is made up of people born in other countries or their decendants.

That makes her a very typical Aussie

Maybe you guys need to do some research or stop talking about something you do not know of. If she has to speak through an interpreter then she would not qualify for citizenship as there is a requirement to speak some english. Whatsmore Centrum tell me what countries that are not made up by decendants of another place. I say that because when most countries were establish they were from other empires.

[ozyjon]

I've been to Cambodia many times, the only people that

approached me were very well dressed locals begging

for money, no one has ever approached me to do drugs

[cookee68]

Typical Aussie.

Not that typical, she couldn,t even speak the language, she deserves what she got, lucky she wasn't caught in her own country, instead of the one she was arrested in.

[xen]

There is another side to this without excusing her for what she did but she is one of many Aussie Asians (and no doubt other Aussies) who get caught up in this situation through their weakness/illness for gambling . They get picked up in a bus from the casino , the casino gives them a big welcome and , cheap food and life feels good for them.They get a few losses but the next spin will get it all back for them plus enough to pay a few bills. But they get in deeper and deeper into debt. A nice polite gentleman will offer them a loan plus a bit more to keep on playing. Then they are in even deeper and the offer for a holiday back home comes in . All they have to do is bring some stuff back with them .

Sounds like the script for a film but it continually occurs. I had a Vietnamese sub contractor working for me. Mad gambler but nice bloke. Same story. And i have known of others - this is why i am so against the idea of Casinos especially if they introduce them to Pattaya. . The parasites feeding off stupid , greedy , gullible punters will always extract blood from a stone somehow. .