'Mr Hanoi', 'The Queen', 'Brother Hung'... and the hostie with $465,000 worth of heroin in her undies: Inside story of how a shadowy syndicate imported killer drug worth MILLIONS into Australia
- Flight attendant Zailee 'Hana' Zainal smuggled about 20kgs of heroin on planes
- Zainal stuffed the one kilogram packages in a nappy which she wore for hours
- The mother of three was sentenced to a minimum of four years and nine months
- Police believe Zainal smuggled in close to $12 million worth of heroin
- She had been a mere pawn in a major drug operation working out of Malaysia
A drug mule flight attendant spent hours at a time carrying nappy loads of heroin into Australia jammed between her legs and stuffed inside her bra in a racket worth millions.
Zailee Zainal, 40, was a mere pawn in an international drug syndicate that ended with a Melbourne nail technician who self-proclaimed herself the 'Queen of Richmond'.
Richmond, positioned just outside of Melbourne's CBD, is a notorious heroin hot spot that often sees junkies shooting up in residential areas.
Zailee Zainal would have done anything to help her sick daughter, including smuggling heroin into Australia stuffed in her undies
Federal police found drugs wrapped in a nappy jammed between the legs of Zailee Zainal
Police weigh a package of heroin found in Zailee Zainal's underwear
'The Queen' Michelle Ngoc Tran, had paid Zainal $155,000 for each one-kilogram package of heroin, which she sold wholesale for $195,000.
By the time Zainal was arrested by Australian Federal Police at Melbourne Airport, she had claimed to have brought in about 20 packages of heroin - worth about $600,000 a kilogram on the street.
Police had already intercepted five packages when they finally pounced on Zainal in January last year.
They believed they had probably missed three other packages.
But Zainal sang like a canary and told detectives she had brought in at least 20 packages of heroin, worth anywhere up to $12 million.
She had been offloading the illegal booty to a contact at a Melbourne hotel in return for about $1700 a trip, although the stingy syndicate didn't always pay up.
Zainal claimed she only ever carted the drugs, which she assumed was probably cannabis, to help pay for her sick child's medical bills.
Dealing in heroin in Malaysia carries a death sentence if caught.
All up, Zainal believed she only received about $6500 for her smuggling.
Zainal had been recruited by a cunning member of the drug gang in Malaysia who preyed upon her desperation to help her daughter.
A drug syndicate out of Malaysia used flight attendant Zailee Zainal to smuggle heroin into Melbourne
Zailee Zainal was once an honest Tupperware salesperson before she became a high flying drug mule
Zailee Zainal's passport. She will be deported back to Malaysia once she gets out of jail
The syndicate knew Zainal 'would do anything' to help her daughter.
The supposed kingpin in the operation was known as Mr Hanoi, who supplied Tran with the aid of two men known as Johnny and 'The Manager'.
Beng Goh, a married father-of-two, was also caught up in the operation.
The 44-year-old businessman was one of seven main players charged over the syndicate.
Goh had arrived in Melbourne on January 4 last year with two associates and on the same Malindo Air flight Zainal was working as an attendant.
Four days later, Goh delivered 784.2g of pure heroin, with a street value of more than $465,000, as instructed to Melbourne's Immigration Museum for collection.
He was arrested just as he was about to receive $150,000 his troubles.
The associates he'd travelled to Australia with ditched him and returned to Malaysia.
Packages of drugs were stashed in Zailee Zainal's underwear
The drug syndicate has been traced back to Malaysia
Goh went on to plead guilty to trafficking a marketable quantity of heroin and was sentenced on Wednesday to six years in jail.
Tran, 49, had appeared before the County Court of Victoria days earloer where she pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and trafficking a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Another four syndicate members faced court on Tuesday and Wednesday, including Thuy Thanh Thi Tran, 57, and her son, Khoi Phan, 28.
They will all be sentenced at a later date.
A 38-year-old woman known as 'Princess' has not yet been charged and remains in custody in Western Australia over unrelated matters.
Zainal pleaded guilty in the County Court of Victoria last month to importing and trafficking a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug
On Thursday, she was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years in jail with a non-parole period of four years and nine months.
She has already served close to two years behind bars while awaiting justice.
On release, she will be deported back to Malaysia where the associates she ratted on also reside.
In sentencing, Judge Michael Cahill said he would show Zainal a degree of leniency due to her co-operation with police and for the reasons she embarked on the doomed cash grab.
'There is a place for mercy in serious offending,' he said.
