FORMER professional video games player Kurtis Lau “Toyz” Wai-kin has been sentenced Thursday to four years and two months in jail for six drug trafficking offences in Taiwan.
Kurtis Lau, 30, is from Hong Kong and competed professionally in popular esports game League of Legends from 2011 to 2016, when he switched to managerial jobs for several years.
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Toyz won the League of Legends World Championship in Los Angeles back in 2012, with his team Taipei Assassins.
The tournament is the biggest professional event in League of Legends, akin to the Champions League in football, awarding upwards of $2million in prize money for the winning teams every year.
A little over 10 years after this huge success, a district court in Taichung City, Taiwan, has found Toyz guilty on four counts of drug trafficking and two counts of attempted drug trafficking.
According to a report by Yahoo Hong Kong, he was first arrested in September last year under the suspicion of selling cannabis online.
The police found and seized more than 200 marijuana pods during Lau’s arrest.
He was released on bail in January this year, for 1.5million New Taiwan dollars (around £40,000 at the time).
Taiwan’s drug law lists cannabis as a category 2 illegal drug, and offenders selling such drugs are facing up to seven years in jail and hefty fines of up to 5million New Taiwan dollars (£133,500).
After completing the investigation, the Taichung District Court prosecuted Toyz on six counts, together with seven other people assisting in the crimes.
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Toyz pleaded guilty during the trial and his defence alleged that the pro player was not familiar with Taiwan’s laws in hopes of getting him a reduced sentence.
The prison sentence of four years and two months issued by the district court this week can be appealed.
The pro player and his lawyers are yet to make an official statement after the sentencing.
Written by Stoyan Ovcharov on behalf of GLHF.
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