Operation Ironside truckie John Stephen Stevenson ‘couldn’t see a way out’ of drug courier role, court hears

A truckie who agreed to pick up a small package instead found himself “too far in” and transporting 10kg of meth as part of Operation Ironside, court hears.

An Operation Ironside truck driver who agreed to collect a package interstate – only to later discover it was 10kg of methamphetamine – has been jailed for at least two years.

John Stephen Stevenson, 25, of Grace Plains, is the first South Australian to be sentenced over the world’s biggest police sting, which brought down the criminal underworld.

Stevenson was arrested in May – prior to Operation Ironside’s “resolution day” – when he was stopped at Yamba, near the SA-NSW border, after police intercepted messages on the encrypted AN0M application.

In sentencing on Wednesday, District Court Judge Jane Schammer said Stevenson’s role was “very much at the bottom end” of the hierarchy as a first time drug courier but still an “extremely serious” task that must be punished with a jail term.

She said Stevenson was approached by a friend and asked to pick up a small package, which he believed would be “a small shopping bag” along his regular interstate transport route.

“You understood that what you were being asked to do involved collecting something illegal, most likely a small amount of cannabis,” Judge Schammer said.

Judge Schammer said Stevenson was provided with an AN0M device to communicate with other members of the syndicate to arrange a pick-up point for collection at Goulburn, NSW.

She said that when Stevenson collected the package it was heavier than he expected and he realised he had “become involved in something that was far bigger” than he expected.

“Not withstanding this you made the decision to continue and stowed the package in the rear of your truck,” Judge Schammer said, adding Stevenson later stopped to inspect the package.

“You accept that by this time you knew that you were carrying a significant quantity of methamphetamine but felt that you were too far in and could not see a way out of the offending.”

Judge Schammer said the methamphetamine was packaged in 10 plastic containers weighing about 1kg each in a large storage bag and “secreted under the bed in the rear of the cabin of the prime mover”.

She said the methamphetamine – a drug that caused “considerable misery” to the community – had a “very high street value” of up to $17.5m.

Stevenson, a father of one, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking a large commercial quantity of a controlled drug.

Judge Schammer said Stevenson’s offending was uncovered as law enforcement authorities detected communications on AN0M about the “organisation of a large drug trafficking transaction by a serious and organised drug trafficking syndicate comprising members in both New South Wales and South Australia”.

Those discussions included messages revealing it was Stevenson’s “first trip” as a drug courier so other members of the syndicate believed he was therefore “unlikely to be detected”.

“After you were apprehended the fact it was your first time was discussed by others in dissecting how and why it was that you had been detected,” Judge Schammer said.

She said Stevenson had now lost his successful self-made trucking business and reputation and was genuinely remorseful having penned a handwritten apology to the court.

The court previously heard he was “horrified” when he realised he had been drawn into Operation Ironside.

Judge Schammer jailed Stevenson for seven years but, after a 35 per cent discount for his early plea, the sentence was reduced to four years, six months, two weeks and five days.

She imposed a “merciful” non-parole period of two years.

Judge Schammer also finalised seizure orders against Stevenson, which included the forfeiture of a Kenworth truck, $97,673.91 from the sale of another truck and $51,708.31 from a bank account.