Daniel Akkari to be sentenced for attempting to transport $40,000 of methamphetamine to Port Lincoln

A man with a coke problem brought “great shame” to himself and his family after he agreed to drive a large amount of meth across SA to pay off debts.

A drug courier will lose his pizza shop if he is jailed for transporting $40,000 of methamphetamine across South Australia, a court has heard.

Daniel Akkari, 25, said he has brought “great shame” to himself and his family after he was busted with the drugs en route to Port Lincoln.

The District Court on Monday heard that Akkari was pulled over on the Lincoln Hwy at North Shields on August 25, 2020.

Police had received information that he was in possession of drugs.

Daniel Akkari will be sentenced in December for drug trafficking. Picture: Facebook

“A more thorough search of the vehicle later located a large plastic resealable bag containing 138g of substance that contained 64.2g of methamphetamine,” a prosecutor said.

The court heard Akkari initially denied the offending.

“He stated that he was travelling to Port Lincoln to look at a potential business premise for opening a further pizza store,” a prosecutor said.

The court heard the drugs found were valued at $40,000.

The prosecutor pushed for an immediate jail term, due to the significant amount and the purity of the methamphetamine found.

Akkari, of Wallaroo, previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.

Stephen Ey, for Akkari, told the court Akkari owned a pizza shop in Kadina.

“At the time he was struggling …. Covid-19 had started to impact (him) and he was using cocaine,” he said.

“He was struggling to pay his debts and he was approached by a man he knew – he supplied cocaine to him in the past – and asked if he was prepared to do a run to Port Lincoln.”

The court heard Akkari handed his car over to the man who secreted the drugs.

“The arrangement was that he would drive to Port Lincoln, check into a hotel, leave the car open and unlocked and the drugs were going to be removed,” Mr Ey said.

“He would be paid upon his return to Adelaide, he was to be paid $3000 for the trip.

“Of course that never occurred because he was arrested.”

Akkari read out a letter of apology to the court, saying he is remorseful for his actions.

“I have brought great shame to myself and my family,” he said.

Mr Ey said they accepted the offending was serious but pushed for a suspended or home detention sentence.

“He was taken advantage of in the sense that the person that put this upon him knew that he was vulnerable because of his usage of cocaine,” Mr Ey said.

“It’s like a spider web, you get drawn in and you can’t get out of it.”

The court heard Akkari would lose his business if he received an immediate jail term.

“For a young man who’s got no relevant prior history he really did step into the arena in a significant way,” Judge Timothy Heffernan said.

Akkari will be sentenced in December.