A MAN who acted as courier for a Lake Macquarie drug supply operation, express-posting packages containing items like "THC vape juice" and "THC lollipops" to customers on the dark web, has narrowly avoided a jail term.
Ethan McMaugh, 32, had said he felt "shame and guilt" at his involvement in the shadowy operation that traded substances similar to synthetic cannabis for cryptocurrency because he believed his mother's unsolved murder was linked to her partner's connections to the drug trade.
They had been bludgeoned to death and, despite a long police investigation and a coronial inquest, no one has been arrested or charged over the double murder.
McMaugh, who is represented by barrister Rory Pettit and solicitor Kate Maher, had pleaded guilty to supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, which carries a maximum of life imprisonment.
He had admitted to supplying a total of 3.3 kilograms of Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) as part of his role in the operation, which was initially solely acting as the "postboy" before he started storing some of the substances at his house.
In April, 2022, McMaugh and two other people were arrested by Cybercrime Squad detectives investigating the supply of drugs via the dark web.
The operation was allegedly using an e-cigarette shop at Belmont as a front to buy psychoactive substances that mimic the effects of cannabis and selling them for cryptocurrency.
McMaugh said he became involved after he was hit by a car and fractured his wrist, leaving him unable to work and cover rent and expenses.
He agreed to drop a number of packages at Swansea post office, but did not mix the liquids and did not know they were being advertised on the dark web as THC.
Judge Robert Sutherland said McMaugh's was a "very exceptional case" and said his role was peripheral to the operation and he was confident he would not re-offend.
He ordered McMaugh be placed on a two-and-a-half year intensive corrections order.
As for the double murder, police in January revealed they had uncovered new information about the double murder, revealing the couple's deaths were linked to organised crime networks "including outlaw motorcycle gangs operating in both NSW and in Queensland".
