A 25-year-old Willetton man has been sentenced to 11 years’ jail by the Perth District Court today (5 April 2022) after earlier pleading guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering.
The man was working as a drug and cash courier for a drug trafficking syndicate and was arrested in April 2021 by the Australian Federal Police, after officers had watched him moving about 15 kilograms of methamphetamine and cash around Perth. The drugs and cash were seized by police. Initial media release here
The court was told the Willetton man was sent GPS co-ordinates from his boss that told him where to pick up and drop off drugs, including burying them in bushland around suburban Perth.
AFP investigators had watched the man when he buried about 10 kilograms of methamphetamine in bush in Edgewater in March (2021), shortly before it was collected by someone else. Those drugs were then seized by police.
Police also searched an area of bush in Queens Park where the 25-year-old had been and allegedly found a bag containing five kilograms of methamphetamine buried in a shallow hole.
The man, then aged 24, was charged on 6 April 2021, after AFP officers arrested him near his northern suburbs business and found $17,355 cash, a hand shovel and dirty gardening gloves in a bag in his car.
AFP Senior Constable Josh Gilmour said 15kg of meth could potentially have been sold to 150,000 people in ‘street deals’ and the harm it could have caused cannot be overstated.
“People who move cash and drugs for criminal syndicates play a vital role in helping other members to profit from this damaging trade,” he said. “The AFP and our partners are working tirelessly to stop drugs from reaching our community and arresting those involved in the distribution.”
The man pleaded guilty on 29 March 2022 to:
- One count of trafficking in a commercial quantity of methamphetamine contrary to subsection 302.2(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth);
- One count of dealing with proceeds of indictable crime in excess of $10,000, contrary to subsection 400.6(1) of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).
The 25-year-old has been ordered to serve seven years and six months’ imprisonment before being eligible to apply for parole. The sentence has been backdated to 6 April 2021 to reflect time spent in custody.
