Aaron Wanders shipped more than $400,000 worth of cannabis to Queensland in country spanning syndicate

It was a mail-order marijuana racket sent a small fortune’s worth of drugs north. But a court’s heard the local source deserves mercy. Read his text messages.

In the midst of the pandemic, carpenter and former star amateur footballer Aaron Wanders sauntered toward the Port Adelaide Plaza shopping centre on August 16, 2021.

The 42-year-old was just about to get through the front door when he realised he forgot his mask and returned to his work ute parked nearby.

Security cameras in the shopping centre captured him strolling to the post office, purchasing a large express post box and then heading back to his ute.

He was filmed crouching down behind the back seat before wrapping the box in tape and then heading back into the centre, where he mailed the package to a man in Mooroobool, a suburb of Cairns in Queensland.

But as Wanders drove away, he did not realise that the package had already been separated from the other mail and police were being notified.

It was the final package of four pounds, or just under 2kg, of South Australian cannabis which was sent to Queensland as part of a syndicate’s operation which had a turnover of around half a million dollars in cash deposits and mailed currency in just 18 months.

Return packages to Adelaide were sent by the Cairns man, containing thousands of dollars in cash secured in the pockets of pants, wrapped in underwear or taped into magazines.

Cannabis seized in the case of SA man Aaron Wanders and his Queensland contact, who were shipping cannabis and cash between the two states. Picture: Supplied.

The Cairns man had been receiving drugs from Wanders in the mail since at least December 2019, when the first of more than a hundred cash deposits were made into Wanders’ bank account through ATMs in Cairns.

The flow of drugs between Adelaide and various suburbs in and around Cairns became the subject of a Queensland Police investigation dubbed Operation Tango Tourmaline.

Police alleged that the Cairns man, who officers had been monitoring for months, was distributing cannabis among his own syndicate of dealers – some he dubbed “apprentices” in texts to Wanders.

However, the cannabis he needed to run the enterprise came from South Australia.

A police officer, in a lengthy affidavit tendered to court during sentencing submissions for Wanders on charges of drug trafficking and money laundering, said that SA cannabis would fetch up to $1000 more a pound than the same product from other states.

Police intercepted text messages sent between the two men in which they spoke in code about the supply of drugs.

The money was called screws, planks or cranes while the cannabis being sent to Cairns was called “invoices” or “slabs”.

Queensland Police monitoring the Cairns man’s cash deposits found that $413,705 had been deposited in lots ranging from $20 through to $7900.

The syndicate came unstuck last year.

On August 19, police had been monitoring Wanders as he picked up a package suspected of being cash sent by the Cairns man in exchange for cannabis.

The next day, before 6am, police raided Wanders’ Henley Beach home where they found the same package containing $13,000 taped into Men’s Health and Runners magazines as well as being wrapped in a T-shirt.

In the console of Wanders ute was a further $1000 cash.

He was charged with and pleaded guilty to trafficking in commercial quantity of cannabis and money laundering.

Andrew Graham, for Wanders, told District Court Judge Heath Barklay that the motive for the drug shipments was not pure greed.

Court released images from the case of SA man Aaron Wanders and his Queensland contact, who were shipping cannabis and cash between the two states. The cash pictured had been taped into a magazine mailed from the Cairns man to Wanders. Picture: Supplied.

Court released images from the case of SA man Aaron Wanders and his Queensland contact, who were shipping cannabis and cash between the two states. Picture: Supplied.

The court heard that Wanders had been a successful amateur football player who had played and excelled in numerous country and metro leagues, including playing for Padthaway and Seaton.

Known around the clubs as “Big Al”, Wanders had what was described by Mr Graham as an “extremely successful amateur career” before being hit by a rare nerve disorder which saw him paralysed from the neck down.

He was left temporarily wheelchair-bound after months of treatment in hospital and was unable to work as a carpenter for a year.

Mr Graham said during that time Wanders was approached with an opportunity to send cannabis to the Cairns man.

“Once he started sending this cannabis to Queensland he felt the pressure to continue,” Mr Graham said.

“The reason for that is once he had sent a package, the person who had provided him with the cannabis basically had another lot ready to go, saying ‘where is the money for this one?’

“There were no explicit threats but given the people he was dealing with he certainly felt intimidated and that there was a certain level of pressure to continue.”

Court released images of Aaron Wanders purchasing an express post box which would be used to ship just under 2kg of cannabis to Queensland. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Graham said Wanders was making only about $100 profit on each pound of cannabis shipped north but Judge Barklay expressed doubted that he was not making more.

“It might be that $413,000 is really a small proportion of the money that went through your client’s hands,” he said.

Mr Graham asked Judge Barklay to consider allowing Wanders to serve any sentence on home detention – saying the two weeks he has spent in prison before being released on bail was a sobering experience.

“He has heard the clang of the prison door,” he said.

“As a matter of fairness it is my submission that we don’t make an example of (people with medical) conditions like this when they make a mistake.”

Wanders will be sentenced in August.