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Months after meeting a stranger who wanted to turn to God, Herman* found himself staring at the Hong Kong police who were showing him his luggage bag which had been laced with cocaine.
Herman got the bag from a man he had met at his church in Springfields, south of Joburg, and he trusted he would help him get a job in Hong Kong when they travelled together in separate planes to Asia in May 2015.
The man had travelled to Singapore with the promise of meeting Herman in Hong Kong days later. However, this did not happen as Herman was bust at the airport and spent nine years and eight months languishing in a Hong Kong jail for a crime he claims not to have committed.
Herman returned to SA in August, after acquiring a diploma in social sciences and is now pursuing a bachelor’s degree. “I stay with mom and I’m unemployed. The whole experience was traumatic, and it has brought me closer to God in a way that I could not have imagined,” Herman told SowetanLIVE yesterday.
He said he had been a dedicated churchgoer for 20 years before he met a man who wanted to join his church and turn a leaf on life. “I was volunteering at the church and out of nowhere, this man came in and wanted my help. I was sceptical because he would always move away whenever he receives a phone call. It seems like he did not want me to hear his conversation. That made me wary, but he kept coming back, talking about changing his life. Then one day, he just disappeared.”
About a month later, the man reappeared and told him he had been working in Hong Kong where he was setting up an IT company with his boss. “He told me he was making good money, and that he would be going back soon. He asked if I wanted to come, saying it was a great opportunity,” said Herman.
“I wasn’t interested in the money. I was 25 years old and I was mostly excited about the chance because I had never flown before. I saw it as an opportunity to travel. Everything was paid for, and I only had to worry about my luggage.”
Herman said the man told him he bought him a luggage bag and clothes. “On the day of the travel, another guy, a driver, arrived with him and brought a bag. The bag had clothes, and I asked who they belonged to. The guy said it was all mine and I just needed to add the stuff I had packed in my own bag into the one they had brought. I didn’t think much of it.”
The three of them travelled to OR Tambo International Airport and the bag passed through the security gates without any hassles.
But his trip took a left turn when he arrived in Hong Kong and airport police picked him from a group of 70 travellers from the plane and asked him to hand over his luggage bag.
“They started searching it. I wasn’t worried because I thought it was just a routine check. Even though it was odd that I was singled out, I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong,” he said.
But when they gathered around the bag and called him over, he realised something was wrong.
“I was shocked at what I was seeing. The bottom of the bag had a hidden pocket and drugs were neatly packed inside. They asked if I knew what it was and I said no. They told me it was cocaine and I had no words. I was arrested on the spot.”
He said the Hong Kong prison was tough and he had taken a lot of beatings from the wardens.
“It was a very traumatic experience.”
SowetanLIVE
