A VIETNAMESE national caught with duffle bags filled with 20 kilograms of methamphetamine as part of an interstate drug supply syndicate has been jailed for a maximum of eight years after a judge said he may have been more than just a "mere courier".
Thanh Dat Nguyen, now 27, was stopped on the Pacific Highway at Nabiac on the night of April 17 last year, a search of his boot revealing millions of dollars worth of ice.
NSW and Queensland police had been targeting Nguyen as part of an investigation into a cross-border drug syndicate and he was under surveillance when he supplied two kilograms of methamphetamine on April 4.
They were watching him again on April 17 as he headed up the Pacific Highway to Queensland before he was stopped and police discovered the 20 kilograms of methamphetamine inside three duffel bags in the boot.
Police said after Nguyen's arrest last year that the ice had an approximate street value of $30 million.
Officers later raided Nguyen's house at Bankstown where they found $138,000 cash, a luxury watch and drug paraphernalia.
He later pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine - which each carry a maximum of life imprisonment - and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime.
And on Monday in Taree District Court, his lawyers sought to paint him as a "courier" and said his role in the operation was "lower down the chain" in the hierarchy because of the risk he was taking transporting the drugs.
Nguyen came to Australia a decade ago on a bridging VISA but began using drugs and claims he incurred a $10,000 drug debt.
He says his life was threatened and he moved houses a number of times before the dealer caught up with him and gave him an ultimatum; pay off the debt or do a job to work it off.
Prosecutors had conceded Nguyen was not at the top of the syndicate hierarchy, but said he was more than just a courier.
Judge Martin Blackmore, SC, said Nguyen's role could have "been somebody more significant" to the syndicate than just a courier, pointing to the large amount of cash found at his house.
"He has got a lot of indicia of supply," he said. "Money. Huge amount of money. "People who are couriers don't typically have $138,000 in cash."
Nguyen claims that holding onto the cash was part of the job he was given to work off the debt, but prosecutors questioned whether a drug dealer threatening his life would then give him $138,000 to hold onto.
Judge Blackmore said the money, and its source, could go against Nguyen either way.
"Clearly he was trusted," he said. "You don't give somebody a suitcase full of 20 kilos of very expensive drugs if they're not trusted. You don't leave them with a $138,000 in cash. So I think I have to infer that he was a trusted person as part of this delivery."
On Thursday, Nguyen was jailed for a maximum of eight years, with a non-parole period of five years and four months, making him eligible for release in August, 2028.
