Husband and wife Jonathan Grey and Kathleen Grey jailed for sophisticated drug operation

A former southeast Queensland couple have been living a lavish lifestyle, with four properties, a Porsche and a BMW, off the back of a sophisticated dark web operation that a Supreme Court judge said was one of the biggest he’d seen.

A FORMER Gold Coast couple who operated a sophisticated and profitable cannabis and MDMA trafficking operation for over a year, using the dark web, have been jailed.

Jonathan Grey and his wife Kathleen Grey operated their drug business out of their Helensvale home and had a separate grow house for hydroponic cannabis plants.

“This trafficking business was well organised, it was sophisticated and highly successful and profitable,” Crown prosecutor David Finch told the Supreme Court.

Mr Finch said there was “a degree of criminal cunning” used by the parents of two children to protect what was clearly a lucrative trade.

Justice John Douglas said the scale of the drug operation was beyond what he normally saw in court cases and it was “very serious offending”.

Kathleen Grey, 48, was sentenced to six years' jail, while Jonathon Grey, 43, was sentenced to nine years' jail.

Drugs were advertised on a marketplace on the dark web and encryption software and Bitcoin cryptocurrency were used, as well as post office boxes set up under false names.

Bitcoin software allowed the transactions to be jumbled, so it was harder to trace, the Brisbane court heard.

The Greys’ dark web business profile indicated they had fulfilled more than 600 orders, generating a turnover of more than $400,000.

But the court heard more than 2084 orders were placed and the exact total value of the turnover was unknown.

Justice Douglas said at least 41 customers had been supplied by the time Australia Post packages were seized, along with books containing customer names in 2016.

It was estimated the Greys actually had a customer base of 585, the court heard.

Cannabis plants valued at $211,225 were found when police raided the grow house and a further $20,000 worth of cannabis and $20,000 worth of drug equipment also was found.

Mr Grey had previously grown hydroponic plants and he used his expertise and equipment from that business operation to grow hydroponic cannabis.

There was also a significant trade in MDMA, with drugs sourced from the Netherlands sent to post office boxes.

The Greys, who had four properties, a Porsche and a BMW, were living a lavish lifestyle from drug profits and $308,887 was forfeited to the State, the Brisbane court heard.

The court heard Kathleen Grey played a much lesser role in the drug operation than her husband, but she was well aware of what was going on and benefitted from it.

The pair fled interstate after their arrests and Mr Grey was jailed in South Australia for possessing and controlling drugs.

The pair pleaded guilty to trafficking in and producing dangerous drugs and other drug-related offences and Mr Grey also pleaded guilty to forging and uttering documents.

Justice Douglas sentenced Jonathon Grey, 43, to nine years’ jail, and ordered he be eligible for parole on August 21, 2021, with 430 days spent in custody counted as time served.

Kathleen Grey, 48, was sentenced to six years’ jail, with 615 days in custody counted as time served. She will be eligible for parole on November 27.