Zebulon Treble asked court to dismiss charges, accused of being a drug courier across SA

A talent management business owner who was allegedly caught smuggling meth across SA told police he was only on the way to a country town to visit his mistress.

A man who runs three businesses was also a drug courier who was transporting large amounts of drugs to multiple places across South Australia, prosecution will allege.

Zebulon Jarrath Treble, 34, was on his way to visit his mistress when he was allegedly caught with a significant amount of methamphetamine.

Marie Shaw QC, for Treble, asked the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday to have some of Treble’s charges dismissed, due to lack of evidence.

The court heard Treble was pulled over by police on September 12 at Bungama.

They allegedly found 83.3g of methamphetamine, with 53.1g of it pure in the plastic casing around the handbrake area.

“It’s the prosecution’s case that he was couriering drugs, specifically three areas, being Whyalla, Port Augusta and Port Pirie,” the prosecutor said.

Zebulon Treble is charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. Picture: Facebook

The court heard Treble travelled between those locations 10 times between July and September, 2020 and only stayed a short amount of time.

“On the prosecution case he is couriering large amounts of methamphetamine out to those towns on those occasions,” the prosecutor said.

The court heard police searched Treble’s house and allegedly found small amounts of drugs, over $12,000 cash in the bedroom and a further $1000 in a bucket near the back shed.

“There’s a clear inference to be drawn, that there is firstly an interest in methamphetamine, but the cash that’s found at the house obviously relates to drug trafficking,” the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor said they had “significant evidence” Treble was involved in drug trafficking operations and that he was using cars which were not in his name, including hire cars, to courier the drugs.

Treble, of Henley Beach, is charged with drug trafficking and money laundering.

Ms Shaw said the car Treble was driving was registered in his partner’s name and there was no evidence he knew the drugs were there.

“He said he was going to see a girlfriend, in other words a mistress, that he was concealing from his partner,” she said.

Ms Shaw said the drugs and cash were found in common areas of the house and it could not be ruled out that they belonged to Treble’s partner, who lived with him.

The court heard Treble operates three separate businesses, including a talent management and booking agency, and was travelling to the towns for business reasons.

Ms Shaw said there was no DNA that linked Treble to the drugs and police found no evidence of any drug dealing indicators, such as tick lists.

Magistrate Michelle Sutcliffe will make her decision next week.