Mother, Daughter Spend Months In Prison After Australian Police Mistake Tea For Drugs

Australian officials jailed a Malaysian mother and daughter for four months in prison when officials mistook tea for amphetamine drugs.

Ladbible said Vun Pui "Connie" Chong and her daughter, San Yan Melanie Lim, attempted to import 25 kilograms of brown ginger tea into Australia, a well-known Malaysian cure for period pain. It arrived in five rectangular boxes, each containing 24 individually wrapped tea packets that the women planned to sell for a price of $90.

According to the Downing Local Court, the ABF used a presumptive "hazmat" test to identify the imported commodity as Phenmetrazine, an illegal stimulant narcotic often used for recreational purposes. The contents of the tea packages were then taken and replaced with an inert substance, which was sent to the women's home and seized the next day when authorities raided it.

The court also heard that the presumptive test only produced a spectrum of compounds that were comparable to Phenmetrazine – and that the illicit drug was most likely fourth in the food chain behind sugar, sucrose, and powdered sugar.

In January, heavily armed police officers invaded Chong and Lim's Sydney house, arresting the two and charging them with commercial drug supply. This crime carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.

In the weeks that followed, authorities were purportedly made aware of problems with the tests used to detect the chemical.

Despite this, authorities held the mother and daughter without bail for months, and the charges were not dropped until Aug. 10, after New South Wales Police conducted its own forensic investigation.

Chong and Lim were not released on bail until May, and the charges against them were not dropped until Aug. 10, after the NSW Police Department got its own forensic analysis.

Conaghan was cross-examined by Chong's lawyer, Steve Boland, who asked why she didn't tell the inmates about the new information sooner. She explained the medications were still being thoroughly tested.

"So, what, they've got to sit it out in jail?" Boland asked, and was met with silence, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "I'll assume that question is not going to be answered," he said.

Chong and Lim are now seeking fees from the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. The Commonwealth has refused to pay. The lawsuit was postponed until March.