Daniel Christopher Munro jailed for five years for drug trafficking

A dealer who buried a large amount of meth under a tree started preparing to sneak drugs into jail upon realising it was inevitable he would be returning to custody.

A chronic dealer was preparing to sneak drugs into jail upon realising it was inevitable he would be returning to custody, a court heard.

Daniel Christopher Munro, 29, was jailed for over five years after he was back to his old tricks months after being released on bail for similar offending.

During sentencing, the District Court heard police searched Munro and his partner’s Kingscote home on February 17, 2020.

They found a glass jar containing resealable bags of methamphetamine buried under the base of a tree.

In total the substance weighed 37.28g, of which 27.33g was methamphetamine.

Daniel Munro was jailed for over five years for drug trafficking. Photo: Facebook

“The quantity of methamphetamine found was almost 20 times the trafficable quantity,” Judge Jane Schammer said.

The court heard the market value of the methamphetamine was around $18,600 if sold in points.

Munro was arrested and released on home detention bail.

Police then searched his bail address at Kadina on November 11, 2020 and found an ice bong, $450 and a sunglasses pouch containing 11 balloons in the garage.

The balloons were found to contain 12.42g of buprenorphine.

Munro’s phone was seized and drug trafficking messages were found.

The court heard Munro knew he would be returned to custody as a result of his earlier offending and obtained the buprenorphine in preparation.

“This drug is easily secreted, hard to detect and easy to transfer,” Judge said.

“You intended to take the drug into custody with you, both for your own use and to supply it to other prisoners.”

The court heard Munro was sentenced for two counts of drug trafficking in May 2017 and was released on parole in March 2019.

“Unfortunately, thereafter you quickly returned to your previous lifestyle, being one of taking drugs and selling drugs to others, primarily to fund your addiction,” Judge Schammer said.

Munro pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and supplying a controlled drug.

His co-accused partner, Samantha Munro pleaded guilty to one count of drug trafficking and was given a suspended sentence.

The court heard the couple shared a three-year-old son together, who was Munro’s motivation to rehabilitate against his drug addiction.

The court heard Munro had previously worked as fish filleter and had work available to him once released from custody.

Judge Schammer sentenced Munro to five years and nine months jail, with a non-parole period of four years and six months.

“The insidious effect of drugs is felt by anyone who uses them, whether they pay for them or not,” she said.

“Further, these drugs were intended for supply to those already in custody, who no doubt like you, were struggling to break the cycle of offending caused by such addiction.”

The sentence was backdated to November 11, 2020.