(posted 7083 days ago)South London Press
£42k for drugs takeaway
Dec 3 2004A GANG who turned their Chinese takeaway into a drugs den serving up ecstasy and ketamine alongside fried rice have been stripped of their assets.
Accountant Rena Wong, 28, and mastermind Ci Kwan, 43, were ordered to pay back a total of £42,669, which police seized from 10 bank accounts taken out in aliases.
A third dealer, Cheng Huang, 35, was found to have "no realisable assets" so escaped having to pay back any money he made from the operation.
Inner London Crown Court was told how the trio made £729,016 over five years. The court heard the seemingly innocent Royal Chinese restaurant in Streatham High Road sold food at the front counter. At the rear of the shop, ecstasy, ketamine and cannabis were on the menu.
Drugs officers found more than £66,000 worth of drugs hidden among rice and noodles in the kitchen and in a "warehouse outlet" at a nearby flat.
Kwan, who was "right at the centre" of the organisation, admitted his role.
He was ordered to pay £38,772 or face a further 10 months in jail.
The court heard how he faces possible execution by firing squad back in China when he is deported after serving his six-year sentence.
Wong, who was jailed for three years and 10 months, and Cheng who got six years, both denied any part in the crime but were convicted at their trial in February.
Wong was ordered to pay back £3,753 or face a further three months in prison.
Police recovered 38g of cannabis from the oven, 39 ecstasy tablets in the fridge and 85 further tablets in Kwan's car parked outside when they raided the restaurant.
Officers then went to Kwan's flat in Lambeth Walk, Kennington.
Officers recovered 2.6kg of cannabis and thousands of ecstasy tablets.
Kwan pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply ecstasy, conspiracy to supply cannabis and possession of ketamine with intent to supply.
Wong was convicted of conspiracy to supply ecstasy, conspiracy to supply cannabis and possession of ketamine with intent to supply.
Huang, of Streatham High Road, Streatham, was convicted of conspiracy to supply ecstasy and conspiracy to supply cannabis.
Speaking outside court, Detective Sergeant Alistair Milne, of Lambeth Financial Investigation Unit, said: 'This result follows on from excellent work by Lambeth's drug squad who are committed to ridding the area of the scourge of drugs and those who peddle in them.