A South Australian man was sentenced in the Adelaide District Court yesterday to more than five years in prison following an Australian Border Force (ABF) investigation into the importation of pseudoephedrine.
The 31-year-old man was arrested in 2022 after ABF officers intercepted and seized two parcels sent from India containing cooking utensils addressed to a property in western Adelaide.
The parcels were found to contain a total of 5kg of pseudoephedrine, a precursor chemical used primarily in the manufacture of methamphetamine.
On 8 July 2022, ABF officers and the South Australian Police, conducted a managed delivery of the two parcels and a search of the man’s house, where he admitted to importing the pseudoephedrine in order to pay off a drug debt, which he was allegedly paid $10,000 to import the parcels.
He was charged with two counts of importing a commercial quantity of a Border Controlled Precursor and denied bail.
Further investigations resulted in a third charge against the man after an additional 2.98kg of pseudoephedrine was mailed from India, found concealed in a picture frame and clothing, and intercepted by ABF officers.
The man received a sentence of five years and four months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months where he will be eligible for parole in August 2025 due to time already served.
He was also sentenced for the state-based offence of trafficking a controlled drug after pleading guilty following a South Australian police investigation, and sentenced to three years and eleven months imprisonment.
ABF Chief Superintendent Bart England said the quantity of pseudoephedrine seized by officers at the border could have resulted in the manufacture methamphetamine worth more than a million dollars on the street, and caused immeasurable harm.
“Our officers are alert to the different ways criminals attempt to conceal drugs at the border, they really have seen it all,” Chief Superintendent England said.
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