Commenting after sentencing six men in 2008 to 30-year prison terms for being involved in the $700 million drug bust on Monos Island, Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon touched on one of the main reasons for the continuing escalation in the drug trade and the deep violence that is now associated with that trade.As observed by Justice Yorke-Soo Hon, the six men, while being the ones directly involved in handling the drugs, were arrested at a house on Monos Island, but the police did not take their investigations further.
"The main house was never searched and the owners never investigated; the ownership of the drugs was never established and the employers of these men were not found. All these unanswered questions facilitated the escape of the big fish," said Yorke-Soo Hon then.The question must be how was it possible for an investigation to have been "completed" and these basic investigations were never done, these questions remain unanswered and apparently were never asked by the relevant authorities.
How were these basic elements of an investigation overlooked by the seniors of the officers investigating the incident?The matter has come into focus once again as the Appeal Court upheld the first conviction of the drug dealers on Tuesday. The Court has deferred its own sentencing of the men but one expects that the sentence will once again be strong to match that of Justice Yorke-Soo Hon.
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