Samuel Robert Eupene guilty of commercial-scale drug supply days after child grooming sentence
The son of a well-known Darwin dentist has pleaded guilty to his role in an international drug syndicate just days after being sentenced for child grooming.
Northern Territory
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The son of a prominent Top End dentist has pleaded guilty to his part in an international drug syndicate operating in the Territory, just two days after being sentenced for grooming children for sex.
Samuel Robert Eupene, 47, was one of 14 alleged co-offenders busted as part of Operation Delmar, a 2021 police operation targeting a criminal group distributing commercial quantities of cannabis in the greater Darwin area.
During his arrest Eupene was found throwing thousands of dollars of cash off a Bayview balcony, the Supreme Court heard on Friday.
A “close associate” of Eupene’s was identified as head of the syndicate importing millions of dollars worth of cannabis plant material from interstate via contacts linked to Vietnamese organised crime.
The court heard Eupene used the encrypted messaging app Threema under the handle “YOU PEEN EEEE” to contact the kingpin, who went by “Clandestine20”.
Other co-offenders used alias’ including “Crimeboss”, “BobbyDazzler” and “Dilli Butt Worm”.
Detectives from the Drug and Organised Crime Division alleged the cannabis was trafficked into the Territory in American Tourister suitcases, each containing about 15kg of the drug, and stored in various locations including a Coconut Grove shed, Darwin Radiators in Fannie Bay, and Clandestine20’s Bayview home.
Police used covert equipment including tracking devices and telephone intercepts to surveil the co-offenders, who were tasked with selling the drug on behalf of Clandestine20.
Eupene was observed selling large amounts of cannabis between July 17 and September 28, 2021, sending messages to Clandestine20 including “yo bro got big pile of paper for you” and “wondering if you got much green paint left in the tank”.
On September 28, 2021, Eupene met Clandestine20 at his home to hand over $30,000 from drug sales.
Police raided the property at 6pm that day, finding Eupene and Clandestine20 in possession of cryovac bundles of cash totalling $148,750, which Eupene began throwing off the balcony into the communal swimming pool below.
Police also found 15kg of cannabis in a storage room of the property, valued at up to $3m.
A laptop was seized during a subsequent search of Eupene’s home, on which investigators uncovered hundreds of child abuse images and explicit photos he had sent to teenagers.
That offending was dealt with in a separate Supreme Court hearing, with Eupene pleading guilty to more than 30 charges for which he was sentenced on Wednesday.
He will return to court at a later date for sentencing in relation to supplying commercial quantities of a dangerous drug and possessing proceeds of crime.
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Originally published as Samuel Robert Eupene guilty of commercial-scale drug supply days after child grooming sentence
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