Henry Okechuku Nwaulu found guilty of attempting smuggling more than $4m of heroin and meth into Mount Gambier
Videos of the man running his hands through mounds of meth and detailing how his smuggling tactics worked proved difficult to explain in court.
Police & Courts
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A Mount Gambier man used contacts to in South Africa and South East Asia to import millions of dollars worth of methamphetamine and heroin, a jury has found.
Henry Okechuku Nwaulu took lengthy videos of himself handling mounds of methamphetamine in his Mount Gambier home, as well as demonstrations of how he was smuggling the drugs into the country.
Following an investigation by Australian Border Force Nwaulu was charged with three counts of importing a marketable quantity of a controlled drug and stood trial in the District Court last week.
On Wednesday a jury sitting in Mount Gambier unanimously found him guilty of all three charges after only a few hours deliberating.
Nwaulu’s offending first came to light when a package from South Africa was intercepted in Sydney on November 7, 2021.
Inside the packages was a thermos with a false bottom containing 125.1g of methamphetamine.
The package was addressed to a unit in Mount Gambier and with the name Daniel Fauzi.
On November 21, 2021 a second package was seized in Melbourne. It contained two large hard cover books.
Within the covers of the book was a lining of methamphetamine weighing 537.5g.
The package was addressed to the unit next door to Nwaulu and had the name Daniel Faziri.
If sold in individual points, the haul was worth over a million dollars.
On December 30, 2021, a package from Laos was intercepted in Sydney.
Inside a small amplifier was 1.5kg of heroin with a street value of $3m packed into compressed blocks.
The package was addressed to Nwaulu’s other next door neighbour and had the name Daniel Fausi.
Opening the trial Jeff Powell, prosecuting, told the jury that of the four units in the complex where Nwaulu lived, three had been destined to receive packages of drugs and the fourth was Nwaulu’s home.
Mr Powell told the jury Nwaulu had embraced Islam in 2015 and changed his name to Daniel Fausi.
When Border Force officers raided his home they found several mobile phones.
On one of the devices was videos of Nwaulu running his hands through kilograms of crystals with the appearance of methamphetamine.
Another 11 minute video showed Nwaulu demonstrating how to cut open the fake bottom of a flask using a kitchen knife and cleaver.
Police seized a knife and cleaver at Nwaulu’s home which tested positive to methamphetamine.
One of the mobile phones had been used to call a courier company to query the status of the seized packages.
Several neighbours of Nwaulu told the jury that he had asked whether any packages addressed to him had been delivered.
Nwaulu was remanded in custody to face sentencing submissions in the coming months.
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