A syndicate boss was "driven by greed" when he started what would be the biggest online illegal and controlled drug distribution network in ACT history.
Michael Adam Kustic, 41, was handed a more than seven-year jail sentence with a three-year-and-10-month non-parole period in the ACT Supreme Court last week.
The sentence was backdated to take the more than two and a half years Kustic has spent in custody on remand into account.
He previously pleaded guilty to supplying anabolic steroids, trafficking a commercial quantity of psilocin and THC, dealing with proceeds of crime exceeding $1 million, and failing to comply with a court order.
Kustic and co-offender Thomas Kelleher knew each other through the gym and had both "been enthusiastic users of anabolic steroids".
In 2022, Kustic sold his panel-beating business and started supplying steroids.
By August the next year his new business, OzPharmlabs, had become a sophisticated criminal syndicate.
Customers would contact the business via Threema, an encrypted messaging app, and pay by either depositing money into bank accounts operated by Kustic or through cryptocurrency.
These bank accounts had been fraudulently opened in other people's names.
Kelleher stored the stock in his garage in O'Connor, which operated like a warehouse. The items were packed there and then posted in street postboxes around Canberra.
James Martens, who went by the nickname "thirty", was the runner. He posted the drug packages and picked up deliveries from fraudulently obtained post office boxes. Both co-offenders were paid a wage by Kustic.
In September 2023, the 41-year-old boasted about his work to the other syndicate members on Threema.
He said he wanted to buy land and build a house because "running three labs and an international syndicate is just not enough".
Over about a year and a half, more than $1.8 million was credited into the fraudulent bank accounts.
A police investigation that began in August 2023 used telephone intercepts, controlled buys and physical surveillance.
Investigators also intercepted 73 packages with the help of Australia Post. These packages were addressed to people across Australia and labelled as coming from different businesses such as a tackle shop.
Inside some of the packages were PSI-branded cookies and cream chocolate biscuits containing psilocybin or magic mushrooms. Another contained "bliss bites watermelon" THC gummies.
In December 2023, police searched multiple properties including Kelleher's garage where they discovered declared substances and steroids with an estimated street value of almost $9 million.
At the time, the raid was said to have uncovered what police allege was the "largest illegal controlled and prescription drug distribution network" in ACT history.
The syndicate dealt with proceeds of crime totalling about $2.5 million relating to 3000 transfers to bank accounts controlled by Kustic.
In a decision published on Thursday, Justice Louise Taylor found Kustic was in charge of his arm of the operation, but was "below those closer to the controlling mind of the entire operation".
The judge said he was "driven by greed", fuelled in part by a desire to support his family, which enabled him to make a substantial profit and buy luxury items.
Kustic, who previously had no criminal history, told a report author that "the biggest mistake I made was thinking that it wasn't that bad".
He said he was "ashamed and embarrassed" and did not ever think "he would end up in [jail]".
Justice Taylor found the syndicate leader's decision-making ability and functional capacity were diminished by mental health issues, drug use and an adverse childhood.
The two co-offenders were previously sentenced for their part in the criminal group. Kelleher was handed an almost five-year jail sentence with a more than two-year non-parole period.
Kustic will be eligible for parole in October 2027.
