Tereapii Pokoina quit his job on the day 18kg shipment of cocaine arrived from Greece, court told

Was he anticipating a life-changing windfall? Prosecutors say Tereapii Pokoina quit his job on the day a huge cocaine shipment arrived, proving he wasn’t just an exploited stooge.

A man who supplied his employer’s contact details to collect an 18kg shipment of cocaine – worth up to $20m in street deals – quit on the day the illicit substance arrived, a court has heard.

Tereapii Pokoina, 48, attempted to collect the shipment of 17.97kg of cocaine from Greece which was hidden inside a safe secreted inside commercial welders in September 2020.

He paid brokerage fees, used his then employer’s name and address, and later paid to register his own fake metalworks business but was twice unable to collect the shipment before he became one of the first Operation Ironside arrests.

Tereapii Pokoina leaves the District Court after an earlier hearing. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Brenton Edwards

During a sentencing submissions hearing in District Court, a prosecutor said Pokoina’s role in the operation was “fundamental to the importation” but at the “lowest level of the known hierarchy” among the alleged organisers.

“The defendant understood that the drugs were to be concealed in two welders, that he paid himself over $10,000 for shipping, the clearance and brokerage for the matter, so it obviously had some value to it,” she said.

“He quit his job on the day the consignment arrived which would suggest that he was under the impression that his financial needs would be met once the importation had arrived.

“The defendant would not cease employment that he’d been engaged in for over 18 months if he didn’t have some level of financial security, which is not borne out by his bank accounts that he was in a position to cease working.”

She said another accused, who had a less significant role in the importation than Pokoina, was to be paid $40,000 for his role.

A cocaine brick from inside the safe in the welder. Picture: Australian Federal Police.

But Martin Anders, for Pokoina, said his client did not have “specific” knowledge of the importation and disputed that he would be paid in cash.

He said he instead “hoped” to be paid with up to eight 8-balls of the cocaine, amounting to less than about $15,000, but there was “no clear arrangement” about his payment.

He said Pokoina, of Hyde Park, was a drug addict at the time and those higher up in the organisation exploited him with drugs.

“They were literally supplying him with drugs and, as they pump him with the drugs, to use their terminology, he just keeps saying ‘yes’,” he said.

Mr Anders said Pokoina had instead quit his job because he was “embarrassed” about using his employer’s details.

Judge Rauf Soulio said he may need to take evidence from Pokoina about his motivation for his role in the importation when he returns to court in March.

At the time of his arrest, Australian Federal Police revealed the shipment was worth an estimated $5m if sold wholesale or up to $20m if sold in street deals.

The court heard the shipment contained 17.97kg of cocaine at a purity of 79.6 per cent – amounting to 14.3kg of pure cocaine.

Pokoina – who previously pleaded guilty to a charge of importing a border-controlled quantity of a controlled drug – faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.