Tusmore man admits importing 590 allergy pills which could make up to $60K worth of meth

Oops! An eastern suburbs man busted with almost 600 illegal allergy pills claims he thought they were legal because he bought them on eBay, a court has heard.

A chronic sinusitis sufferer who bought hundreds of allergy tablets on eBay did not realise it was illegal to import the pills which could be turned into $60,000 worth of methamphetamine, a court has heard.

The 37-year-old Tusmore man bought 590 allergy pills containing pseudoephedrine in December 2020 – and thought about making methamphetamine, but never set about doing so.

Martin Anders, for the man, told the court his client had suffered a serious acquired brain injury about a decade earlier, which left him with a lack of impulse control, anxiety and depression.

He said his client had been using the medication “an alarming rate” due to “chronic sinusitis” for about two years before Australian Border Force officials knocked on his door.

“He’d been using this medication for a very long time and using it consistently, because of the medication, even when it’s not transferred into the form of methamphetamine, has a stimulus effect,” Mr Anders said.

Australian Border Force seized 590 pills containing pseudoephedrine. Picture: Stephen Laffer

He said there was no suggestion the man – who pleaded guilty to its importation – planned to sell the drug, despite his thoughts of manufacturing.

“He thought ‘well, if it’s on eBay, how much trouble can I get in?’,” Mr Anders said.

“Quite a bit – quite a bit as is now apparent.

“There may be a community or popular opinion that, if eBay allows you to purchase it, it’s all okay. But these medications are freely available in the United States but they’re not in Australia, for very obvious and important reason.”

A Commonwealth prosecutor told the court there was 54g of pseudoephedrine in the pills, which could be turned into 61g of methamphetamine, which could be worth between $20,000 and $60,000.

“For obvious reasons, the supply of medications that contain pseudoephedrine in Australia is regulated and so people who intend to use pseudoephedrine for illicit purposes generally import these medications in order to avoid the regulations,” the prosecutor said.

The court heard the man had “acted alone”, but the importation was “not a once off”.

“This is a man who had a history of importing pseudoephedrine-containing drugs for at least a period of two years,” the prosecutor said.

“This was not a once-off spur of the moment and impulsive decision to import that pseudoephedrine containing medication.”

Judge Liesl Kudelka, who described the importation as “not very sophisticated”, will sentence the man later this month.