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AAP
AAP
National
Karen Sweeney

Drug trafficker jailed years after crimes

A woman who sent drugs through pre-paid Australia Post packages has been jailed. (Nikki Short/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

A Melbourne drug trafficker has been jailed nearly a decade after she first offended, ending one of the state's longest running cases.

Through 2013 and 2014, Silvie Horakova ran a meticulously documented drug sale business on the dark web, sending illicit purchases through pre-paid Australia Post packages.

She bought the drugs online and then onsold to customers across the country - selling more than 350g of methamphetamine in 374 transactions, netting $146,160 in bitcoin in exchange.

Horakova also sold more than 200g of cocaine in 154 transactions, earning $60,580 in bitcoin.

She was jailed for seven years on Tuesday by County Court Judge Paul Lacava who described the prosecution case, based on her own records, as compelling.

For nearly every transaction she kept Australia Post records, including buyers' personal details and dark web usernames and delivery dates.

The meticulous records were those of a well organised and efficiently operated business trafficking drugs between June 2013 and February 2014, the judge said.

She was charged in May 2015 but there there were significant delays in bringing the case to trial.

After 70 pre-trial hearings, four changes of defence lawyers and multiple abandoned trial dates, by the time a jury reached guilty verdicts in early 2022 it was the oldest case on the court's books.

Horakova was convicted of three charges of trafficking a drug of dependence and one of importing a marketable quantity of drugs after she was separately tied to a shoebox full of methamphetamine imported from the US in February 2014.

She also pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine, dealing in suspected proceeds of crime and bail breaches.

Horakova gave evidence at her trial claiming she wasn't selling drugs, but was involved in bitcoin trade and selling expensive handbags.

She claimed the drug business belonged to her former boyfriend and his friend.

But Judge Lacava said it was simply unbelievable and the jury was right to reject it.

"Having heard your evidence and the way you attempted to brazen your way out of trouble, I have concluded you have shown no remorse for your offending," he said.

The judge accepted the relationship with her former partner had changed her and before she met him she was a decent and compassionate person.

She has stopped using drugs since the relationship ended.

With time served, Horakova will be eligible for parole in four years.

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