$90,000 of ice uncovered by police in secret hiding spot in car
A TAMWORTH horsebroker who stashed a load of the drug ice he was dealing in a hidden compartment in a car to avoid detection, has been jailed for three years.
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Andrew Graham Kelly won’t be eligible for parole until at least the end of next year after he was found with enough ice to fetch $90,000 on the streets of Tamworth.
The now-29-year-old wasn’t driving the car, but the sock the 115.3g of methylamphetamine was stashed in matched another lone black sock found during a raid on a Kootingal home.
Close to a dozen of Kelly’s family and supporters watched on in Tamworth District Court as Judge Jeffery McLennan detailed Kelly’s drug dealing efforts.
“This is not the efforts of an amateur," Judge McLennan said in sentencing, pointing to the 71 per cent purity of the methylamphetamine.
“That is a very high level of purity for that drug.”
The court was told Kelly had a clear history besides a minor driving offence but turned to the drug after a relationship breakdown and then went on to deal to fund his habit.
“He asserts that he was depressed … and commenced taking drugs,” his barrister said.
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) solicitor Mark Ferguson said there was “a degree of planning” because Kelly “had access to a significant quantity of methylamphetamine”.
“It is clear he was engaged in a commercial enterprise,” he said.
”The facts indicate he was travelling to and from Sydney to source the drug and bring it back to spread into the Tamworth community.”
The court was told Kelly had a set of scales, a number of bags and the drug’s “very high level” of purity meant it could have been cut down “into many, many street size deals”.
This is not the efforts of an amateur ... that is a very high level of purity for that drug.
- Judge Jeffery McLennan
“[It could] have been re-sold in streets deals for between $57,000 and $92,000,” Mr Ferguson said.
Judge McLennan said the high purity meant it could have been cut down to make 3,000 street deals.
“That's a lot of people ... that's a lot of people on ice,” he told the court.
“That's a lot of very damaged people in the community of Tamworth.
[It could] have been re-sold in streets deals for between $57,000 and $92,000.
- DPP solicitor Mark Ferguson
“He is a person with no previous convictions who in a moment of emotional weakness succumbed to temptation.”
Strike Force Buckhorn was set-up in May, last year, to investigate the supply of drugs and zeroed in on Kelly.
Tamworth Target Action Group (TAG) police used several surveillance measures to watch Kelly as he left Tamworth and went to St Marys in Sydney to collect the drugs.
In one car stop, he was caught by police carrying .22 calibre ammunition.
When police swooped again, Vanessa Kelly, the sister of the accused, was driving the silver Audi with her brother and were leaving a property on the New England Highway at Kootingal.
Police searched the car and found four mobile phones, a smoke pipe and 1.28g of methylamphetamine in a sunglasses case.
Vanessa Kelly pleaded guilty and been convicted of possessing the 1.28g of ice in the car.
Police seized the Audi, and it was towed to a yard and searched where officers found the stash hidden in the rear indicator cover, stashed in a black woollen sock.
Andrew Kelly denied travelling to Sydney or being involved in the supply of drugs when questioned by police, but later pleaded guilty in court.
Judge McLennan said Kelly was “involved in the transportation of the drug” and “clearly involved in the distribution of the drug in Tamworth.
“That tends to suggest the offender had access to a source that was very much aligned with the manufacturer of the drug given its significant purity," he said.
He said “the conduct was planned … was consistent … large profits were involved, both potentially and actually”.
That tends to suggest the offender had access to a source that was very much aligned with the manufacturer of the drug given its significant purity.
- Judge Jeffery McLennan
The court was told Kelly was a was a welder and a horsebroker, and his barrister tendered several references in support as well as urine test results to show Kelly hadn’t been using drugs, and a letter from the rehabilitation centre he went too.
His barrister submitted it would be his first time in custody, he had good prospects for rehabilitation, and that his client was subjected to “ some relatively arduous restrictive conditions" on bail since his arrest, including curfew and house arrest.
Kelly was jailed for three years with a minimum of 20 months behind bars, meaning he will be eligible for parole in November, 2018.
He was also convicted of two further counts each of possessing drugs and possessing ammunition.