SA drug syndicate allegedly led by 1994 NCA bombing suspect Domenic Perre using app where messages ‘self-destruct’ in 45 secs

A DRUG syndicate allegedly led by 1994 National Crime Authority bombing suspect Domenic Perre used the encrypted messenger app Wickr to discuss their “lucrative business”, a court has heard.

A SOUTH Australian drug syndicate allegedly led by 1994 National Crime Authority bombing suspect Domenic Perre has been using encrypted messenger app Wickr to discuss their “lucrative business”, a court has heard.

On Wednesday, Christopher Platt, 43, made a bail application in the Adelaide Magistrates Court after last month being charged alongside Perre, 61, for trafficking drugs.

Opposing bail, prosecutor Emma Roper told the court that Platt’s Wickr name was YLPRiots96.

“That name is not without significance, Your Honour, because (Platt) was sentenced for an offence of assault occasioning bodily harm in 1997 for his role in assaulting a prison guard at the Yatala Labour Prison riots in 1996,” she said.

Domenic Perre at the Adelaide Magistrates Court in October. Picture: Nine News

She told Magistrate Jayanthi McGrath that part of the prosecution case would be that Platt suggested to Perre that they start using app Wickr to communicate.

“During a conversation with Domenic Perre on November 21 last year, the applicant suggested that they use a program called Wickr to communicate,” she told the court.

“(It) is an encrypted communication program whereby messages self-destruct after 45 seconds.

“Mr Platt provided Perre with his Wickr name, which was YLPRiots96.

Ms Roper said Platt played a “significant role” in Perre’s “lucrative business” of sourcing and selling cannabis.

“The applicant was involved in an ongoing trafficking enterprise whereby he travelled regularly to Perth in order to sell cannabis that he had obtained from Domenic Perre,” she said.

“In one conversation on December 2, the applicant spoke to Domenic Perre about having a heap of cannabis over in Perth that he needed to bring back.

“He referred to waiting for the money to come back before he could send the next lot over.

“He and Domenic Perre then discussed how best to get the money back from Perth.”

The men were two of five arrested as part of Operation Cornus — a task-force investigating the 1994 NCA parcel bombing that killed detective Geoffrey Bowen.

Lawyer David Edwardson QC, for Platt, told the court that the case against his client relied only on telephone intercepts.

“The police had access to these intercepts for almost a year and they did nothing about it,” he said.

“The high water mark of the prosecution case is in fact telephone intercepts.

“It would seem that not a single blade of cannabis was seized by police even though they claim that these men were collectively trafficking in large quantities over an extended period of time.

“Domenic Perre, on the allegations that have been put to this court, is clearly the head of the syndicate, if there is a syndicate at all.

“It is troubling that a year has passed since the alleged offending without a charge being laid ... there isn’t a single piece of evidence, so I understand it, that a (drug) transaction took place.

During the raids, police seized an undisclosed quantity of cannabis and more than $20,000 in cash.

Three more men — one aged 63 and two aged 37 — have been charged with drug trafficking following the raids last month.

The five men were allegedly involved in the trafficking of drugs between November 2 and November 21, 2016.

Authorities have offered a $1 million reward for information leading to a conviction for the NCA bombing.