Drug trafficker Salvatore Lagana was ‘holding’ $100K worth of meth for ‘good mate’, court told

A man caught with $100,000 worth of meth in his car has told a court he was not the owner of the illicit substance – instead telling a court it belonged to a friend.

A drug dealer found with $100,000 worth of methylamphetamine has told a court he was “holding” the illicit substance for “a good mate” who he hoped would pay him in drugs.

Salvatore Lagana, 29, of St Agnes, was arrested in March 2022 after 260g of methylamphetamine was found in a tub in his car, and a further 126g at his home along with an amount of MDMA and $12,615 in cash.

The bricklayer was found guilty in the District Court of trafficking a commercial quantity of a controlled drug and two counts of trafficking in a controlled drug.

During a sentencing submissions hearing, Craig Caldicott, for Lagana, told the court his client was “holding the drugs that were located for someone else and that he was hoping to get drugs from that”.

He said the young father did not wish to disclose who that person was because “it was a good mate”.

Salvatore Lagana will be sentenced for drug trafficking offences. Photo: Facebook

Mr Caldicott said the text messages indicated his client was a “low-level dealer” who adulterated and on-sold drugs to clients for amounts of up to $700-$800 to fund his own habit.

“There’s no evidence that he was selling larger amounts than in the text messages and material that I’ve seen,” he said.

He urged the court to consider imposing a home detention sentence, or be as lenient as possible in imposing a non-parole period to allow him to return home to work and support his partner and young child.

“He knows he’s done wrong, he wants simply, if at all possible, for your Honour to be as merciful as your Honour can.”

Prosecutor Isabelle Mickan told the court Mr Lagana’s suggestion that he was holding the drugs for someone else was “not accepted” and was an attempt to downplay his involvement. Instead, she said he was a “middle range” dealer who was onselling drugs.

She said the text messages indicated Lagana had discussed the sale of drugs via the encrypted Signal application, not just via text.

“It would beggar belief that he would be willing to hold on to 260g of methylamphetamine – which is worth up to $100,000 – simply for someone else to then take it and to sell that,” she said.

She said it should not be accepted Lagana was going to paid in drugs, given he was also found with $12,000 in cash.

“This is not a man that needs to receive free drugs from someone else,” she said.

Judge Ian Press, who will sentence Lagana, said the amounts in Lagana’s possession were “significantly higher than the amounts referred to in the text messages”.

He said he would sentence Lagana in February on the basis he was not the owner of the drugs but knew “quite clearly” they were to be onsold.