Extraordinary story of how a mother and daughter spent months in jail for 'importing drugs' – but it was actually TEA

  • A mother and daughter were wrongfully jailed due to major police blunder
  • Connie Chong and Melanie Lim were sent to prison for importing tea from China
  • Botched police tests detected a rare banned substance and they were charged 
  • They are are now seeking damages and taking legal action against NSW Police 

By Levi Parsons For Daily Mail Australia

Published: | Updated:

A mother and daughter got themselves into hot water when they were thrown in the  slammer for six months due to a botched police investigation which wrongfully determined they were smuggling drugs when in reality it was just ginger tea.

Connie Chong and her daughter Melanie Lim imported the exotic brew from China so they could sell it in Australia online, but in January two of their shipments were seized by Border Force agents at Sydney Airport.

The preliminary indicator tests on the cargo wrongfully found the presence of a rare banned stimulant was known as phenmetrazine, leading investigators to suspect the tea pushers were really major drug queens.

Pictured: Daughter Melanie Lim
Pictured: Mother Connie Chong

Connie Chong (right) and her daughter Melanie Lim (right) were wrongly jailed for six months after a botched police investigation

Investigators wrongfully determined the presence of a rare stimulant drug when in reality it was just ginger tea (pictured)

Investigators wrongfully determined the presence of a rare stimulant drug when in reality it was just ginger tea (pictured)

Heavily-armed police officers then raided their Greenacre home in southwest Sydney slapping cuffs on the pair and discovering more of the substance.

The terrified women were then charged with the commercial supply of drugs, refused bail and told they could be facing life behind bars.

But in August more thorough laboratory testing uncovered the shocking realisation that Chong and Lim were completely innocent and that the original presumptive colour test indicators detected a false positive.

All charges against the women have now been dropped but police prosecutors are refusing to pay for their legal bills despite their obvious blunder.

Defence barrister Steve Boland said the case was one of the most extraordinary police 'stuff-ups' in modern memory which has caused tremendous trauma for the pair.

Connie Chong and her daughter Melanie Lim import exotic brews from China to sell it in Australia online as part of their fully legitimate business

Connie Chong and her daughter Melanie Lim import exotic brews from China to sell it in Australia online as part of their fully legitimate business

Defence barrister Steve Boland said the case was one of the most extraordinary police 'stuff-ups' in modern memory which has caused tremendous trauma for the pair. Pictured: The tea police suspected was drug

Defence barrister Steve Boland said the case was one of the most extraordinary police 'stuff-ups' in modern memory which has caused tremendous trauma for the pair. Pictured: The tea police suspected was drug

'It is a gross injustice,' defence lawyer Benjamin Goh told 7News outside court on Tuesday.

'Two innocent women that have served their time as a result of the police not doing the investigations properly.

'It is open to the Crown to say 'sorry'. We stuffed up and two women went to prison for our dodgy prosecution.'

The women are now taking legal action against the NSW Police who say the delay in receiving adequate test results was due to a lack of lab equipment.

Their case seeking damages will continue before the court next year.

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