Crime boss allegedly asked hostie to find 20kg drugs bag

A DOMESTIC flight attendant was asked to help a major cannabis-smuggling ring after it “lost” a 20kg bag of drugs en route to Brisbane, a court has heard.

Police arrest Joshua Thornbury during a raid at Parkwood on the Gold Coast. Picture: David Clark

A DOMESTIC flight attendant with Virgin Australia was asked to help a major cannabis-smuggling syndicate after it “lost” a 20kg bag of drugs en route to Brisbane, a court was told.

Drug syndicate boss Terrence Thornbury was caught on phone taps talking to his “mate” in Melbourne, Craig Leetet, the de facto partner of cabin crew member Andrea Eden.

“So what have you got for me, Rooster?” Thornbury asks Mr Leetet in the call on December 23, 2013.

Mr Leetet replies: “Andrea’s had a look at the (paperwork given when the bag was checked in) you sent and it’s normal for it not to have the ticket number on it.”

Thornbury then insists Mr Leetet order Ms Eden to go to the baggage area at Melbourne Airport and rummage for the bag, which had been checked in five days earlier.

Terrence Thornbury is awaiting sentencing for his alleged role in smuggling cannabis into Queensland.

“F---, she can’t walk down there and see if the bag’s there?” Thornbury asks.

“She’s not working for the next couple of days,” Mr Leetet explains.

Mr Leetet, an operations manager at Tailormade Freight Management in Melbourne, told Thornbury he should contact Virgin’s lost baggage ­department.

“No one will know … (the bag contains drugs), it’ll just be that they could have f---ed it up,” he tells Thornbury.

But little did Thornbury know that drug courier Shannon Joseph Darcy Ireland’s bag had been seized by police. Court documents filed in the Supreme Court reveal Detective Senior Constable Kai Vaughan-Johnson and Detective Sergeant Jeremy Robinson from Queensland’s major and organised crime squad (with officers from the Australian Federal Police) confiscated the bag after the plane touched down from Melbourne at Brisbane Airport at 7.15am on December 18.

It was grabbed just before it was due to be put on the baggage carousel.

An hour later, Ireland lodged a lost baggage claim with Virgin Australia at Brisbane’s domestic terminal.

The syndicate is alleged to have successfully imported a total of 2.4 tonnes of cannabis worth $24 million into Queensland on flights from Melbourne by wrapping the vacuum-sealed drugs in sheets “smelling strongly of air freshener” or perfume to deter sniffer dogs.

Details were contained in documents filed in the Supreme Court in a proceeds of crime application brought against Thornbury.

Police raid a Gold Coast home in connection with the drug-smuggling case. Picture: David Clark

Thornbury and Ireland have indicated they will plead guilty to drug trafficking at their sentencing hearings, which are set for October 18 and December 13.

The syndicate also got help from a corrupt Department of Main Roads officer, Sheree Jane Tritton, who worked as a casual customer service officer and organised for the issue of drivers’ licences for the syndicate.

She is due to be sentenced on 94 charges of corruption and attempted corruption and fraud in Southport District Court on November 2.

Thornbury has also had his white Ferrari 360 Spider seized, pending sale, under proceeds of crime laws.

It was taken by police in April 2014, but until this month, the authorities were not sure whether it was his or whether Thornbury had the car “on consignment” to sell.

His brother Joshua, who was also part of the syndicate, has settled his proceeds of crime case and agreed to forfeit $200,000 in seized cash and a 9ct gold chain, which has been sold, with $34,000 going towards his legal fees, court documents state.