Keenan Rhys Bowker jailed by SA court for playing vital role in bid to smuggle $3.7m in meth into Australia inside aircraft parts
A cocaine addict with a history of “minding the shop” for drug dealers has been jailed for helping in an attempt to smuggle $3.7 million in meth into the country inside aircraft parts.
Police & Courts
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A cocaine addict who played a vital role in a crime syndicate’s attempt to smuggle $3.7 million worth of drugs, hidden inside aircraft parts, has been jailed for six years.
On Tuesday, the District Court said Keenan Rhys Bowker deserved no less than immediate jail time for his crime, which he committed in order to score “easy money”.
Judge Joanne Tracey told Bowker his actions “allowed drug organisations to prosper”.
“Your conduct was premeditated and carefully planned … clearly you played a vital role that was fundamental to the success of the importation,” she said.
“Your sentence must serve to deter young, drug-addicted individuals like yourself from involving themselves in drug operations for ‘easy money’,” she said.
Bowker, 24, of Para Vista, pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a controlled drug, namely methylamphetamine.
In 2016, Australian Federal Police and Border Force officers intercepted three packages of aircraft cylinders coming from Malaysia and replaced the methylamphetamine inside with an inert substance.
Bowker subsequently collected the parcels and took them to an address at Wingfield, where he was caught.
Officers caught him removing the substance in the belief it was methylamphetamine.
They also found other empty aircraft cylinders, packaging that was almost identical to the smuggled material and traces of both methylamphetamine and cocaine.
In sentencing, Judge Tracey said Bowker had previously served jail time for “minding the shop” at a cannabis grow house, demonstrating the “trust” he had earned in the drug world.
She said she would have sentenced him to seven years’ jail, if not for his guilty plea and “fair” prospects for rehabilitation.
Judge Tracey imposed a non-parole period of two years and nine months.