Pair convicted on cannabis charges to be deported to Malaysia

The judge said, given his somewhat lesser role of courier, she was imposing a 40-month sentence.

As Lim had also been in custody since January of last year and so had already in effect served the sentence, he will now be taken from Maghaberry Prison to a detention centre before the pair are deported back to Malaysia.

At an earlier hearing, Zhe and Lim pleaded guilty to several offences relating to the possession, importation, conspiring to import and supply of class B cannabisbetween 31 May 2022 and 4 February last year.

Zhe, who had a “mixed role of courier and manager” admitted 27 offences, drug courier Lim entered guilty pleas to 17 offences.

Two other men, 36-year-old Justin Soon from Portallo Street in Belfast and Chue Yuan, 58, with an address c/o HMO Wormwood Scrubs in London, also entered guilty pleas to similar offences but they were not before the court on Tuesday.

The judge told the court Zhe was first arrested on 24 January last year when police stopped and searched him as he was walking along the Springfield Road.

Hidden inside his backpack was a kilogram of cannabis as well as two mobile phones and two sets of keys.

When police used one of those sets to search Zhe’s bedroom, they seized a further 2.9kgs of herbal cannabis.

That search also gleaned documents relating to tenancy agreements of numerous rental properties, the judge said.