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AADD Moderators: andyturbo
The Australian/NZ Drug Busts Mega-Thread Part Deux
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Fabian Quaid found guilty on ecstasy trafficking charge in Perth Supreme
# Todd Cardy, court reporter
# From: PerthNow
# December 16, 2009 5:36PM
A SUPREME Court jury has found Fabian Quaid and another man guilty of conspiring to import 44kg of powdered ecstasy.
Quaid, 33, and Dimitrios Papadimitriou, 39, had pleaded not guilty to conspiring with each other and other men to traffic a commercial quantity of MDMA - the drug used to make ecstasy.
The haul at the time was the largest for MDMA in WA’s history.
The WA Supreme Court jury returned the guilty verdicts late today after a six-week trial which heard hundreds of intercepted phone calls.
One included Quaid talking to former Eagle Michael Gardiner about fellow AFL player and confessed drug user Ben Cousins, and whether he was depressed.
The trial heard that Quaid and Papadimitriou were part of an international syndicate, co-ordinated by a man in Montenegro, to import the drug and turn the powder into pills for sale.
The conspiracy was hatched in a meeting between Quaid and another man, at a café in Subiaco in July 2007, and the men had been under covert surveillance until their arrest in May last year.
The jury deliberated for more than two days before returning its verdict.
Quaid will be sentenced at a later date.
Bags found in flat
On, May 8 last year, detectives in a joint operation between WA Police’s Organised Crime Squad and the Australian Federal Police conducted a covert search on a ``granny flat’’ at a property in Morley Drive, Lockridge.
A video of the search screened in court showed three bags were found in the raid, including one which was hidden in a recycling bin that contained the powder.
Later police returned and ``secretly substituted’’ the MDMA with a ``harmless white powder’’ before making a full raid on the property on May 19, when they arrested Papadimitriou and two other men.
Quaid was arrested at his Manly flat in Sydney two days later.
The court heard that in the phone calls the men would speak in code, calling Sydney ``Sarajevo'' and Perth ``Christina'', and using restaurants and menus when discussing drugs.
Defence lawyers argued that the about 500 taped telephone calls had been misinterpreted, and Quaid was looking to buy a cafe in Sydney.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/wes...th-supreme-court/story-e6frg13u-1225811129944
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Koonawarra drug maker gets 10 years for ecstasy haul
BY PAUL MCINERNEY
17 Dec, 2009 04:00 AM
One of three men who manufactured $3 million of ecstasy in a clandestine drug laboratory at Kanahooka last year has been jailed for 10 years.
Sentencing Christos Agoris in Wollongong District Court yesterday, Judge Paul Conlon said he was satisfied Agoris had played a major role in setting up and running the laboratory, in what he described as a well-planned and organised criminal activity.
Police found more than 67kg of pure dioxymethamphetamine at the laboratory in Linton Court, Kanahooka, which the court heard was generally sold in tablet form.
Its properties were usually more intense and hallucinogenic than ecstasy, which was manufactured from the same chemical precursors.
Judge Conlon said the pure drug was worth about $700,000 if sold in bulk but about $3 million if sold on the street.
Agoris, 34, of Woombye Close, Koonawarra, was arrested on March 20 last year by officers from Strike Force Eale, set up on February 8 to target his involvement in the manufacture of ecstasy.
Agoris' accomplices allegedly drove a black Audi at police during the operation, before mounting the footpath and driving off at speed.
Shortly after, the car crashed through the fence of Lakeside Crematorium and two men ran off.
After his arrest, Agoris had initially denied having any links to illicit drugs, claiming he was just a carpenter fixing up the Kanahooka house for a relative.
His story started to unravel when police searched his residence a short distance away and found chemical precursors used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.
They also found $25,000 in cash stuffed in his underwear drawer.
The police had monitored telephone calls between Agoris and his two accomplices for at least six weeks with the assistance of the NSW Crime Commission and once heard them talking about being "six hours into a 16-hour cook".
On another occasion, Agoris discussed how close he had come to blowing up the laboratory, saying he had been forced to pour water over dangerously smoking equipment.
Judge Conlon said the courts frequently stressed that people who manufactured drugs deserved stern punishment and in this case it had involved a large-scale manufacture with significant quantities of chemicals being utilised.
Agoris will be eligible for parole on March 19, 2018.
http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/...r-gets-10-years-for-ecstasy-haul/1707094.aspx
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$178,000 found in Cairns drug raid
Henry Tuttiett
Friday, December 18, 2009
© The Cairns Post
AN ACCUSED drug dealer has been found with more than $178,000 in his Woree home, much of it stashed in his sock drawer.
Steven Edward Iverach’s Sandown Close home was raided by police on Wednesday, with officers allegedly finding 370g of cannabis, a set of scales and the money.
About $85,000 of the cash was allegedly found in a bedside chest-of-drawers.
Mr Iverach, 45, faced six charges in Cairns Magistrates’ Court yesterday, including possession and supply of a dangerous drug and possession of property suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
Police prosecutor Constable Katie Hall told the court police initially found 370g of cannabis in the home, which Mr Iverach allegedly claimed to own.
He also told police the set of scales was used to weigh 28g bags of cannabis, which were later sold for $200 each.
During a search of one of the home’s bedrooms, police found $13,180 in the top drawer of a bedside chest-of-drawers.
Mr Iverach allegedly told police all of the money, except about $5000, was his and used to buy cannabis before on-selling it.
A search of a second drawer then found $55,950 and $16,100 in separate bags, but Mr Iverach said the money was not his and belonged to friends.
Cairns police Tactical Crime Squad Sen-Sgt Jason Chetham said a safe was also seized and taken back to the police station where it was opened. He said it contained more than $93,000 in cash.
"Investigations are continuing into the origins of that money," Sen-Sgt Chetham said.
Defence lawyer Tom Eckersley successfully argued for Mr Iverach’s bail, saying it would likely take up to two years to finalise the cash-related charges, which would be contested.
Magistrate Robert Spencer granted bail and adjourned the case until February 18 for committal mention.
http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2009/12/18/83065_local-news.html
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