Jailed: Regional truck driver caught with $20,000 worth of meth

A Western Downs man who was caught with about $20,000 worth of meth has been jailed. Here’s how the police caught him.

Aaron Scott Walsh

A regional Queensland truck driver has been sentenced to more than three years behind bars after Dalby police happened across his $20,000 meth stash during a routine patrol.

Aron Scott Walsh appeared at Toowoomba Supreme Court via video link from prison on Monday, April 8, and pleaded guilty to one count of supplying drugs and one count of possessing meth at Dalby in 2022.

At the time, the 28-year-old had spent three months in custody for unrelated matters.

The court heard Walsh was charged with the drug offences after police intercepted a car that stopped suddenly outside a Dalby home that was known to police.

Walsh and the driver were detained, and officers found a backpack with 39.2g of meth inside, along with 52.2g of a related substance.

Aaron Scott Walsh was sentenced to more than three years behind bars in 2024, after Dalby police happened across his $20,000 meth stash during a routine patrol.

The court heard the drugs were for commercial and personal use.

According to the Crime and Corruption Commission’s Drug Commodities Guide (2014), 28 grams of crystal meth had a street value between $14,000 and $20,000.

When officers went through Walsh’s phone, they saw he had sold 0.5g of meth to a Dalby customer on January 5, 2022.

The court heard he was on a two-year suspended sentence at the time, imposed by the Roma Magistrates Court in February 2021.

Defence barrister Daniel Boddice said Walsh had a drug issue, however it did not crystallise into a full-blown addiction until his offending.

“At this point in time his anxiety associated with the relationship with his parents, and that was exasperated by the fact that he was working for them and very committed to that employment,” he said.

He noted the character references of Emma Riddle, and his brother Grayson Walsh, echoed there was significant tension between Walsh and his parents.

“Perhaps he was lucky, that he was indeed arrested when he was before it had taken hold to the extent he was charged with further offences,” he said.

“He accepts that his behaviour was appalling.”

Mr Boddice said Walsh was blessed to still have full-time work opportunities at his family’s business.

“He has the support of his father at the very least, and his brother,” he said.

Justice Martin Burns although Walsh had a criminal history, “it was relatively modest” and included some drug offending.

Aron Scott Walsh appeared at the Toowoomba Supreme Court via video link from prison on Monday, April 8, and pleaded guilty to one count of supplying drugs and one count of possessing meth at Dalby in 2022.

Justice Burns said from the outside looking in, Walsh had an unremarkable upbringing however a psychologist report stated otherwise.

“It leads me to accept there was in your case, a reason for the development of your addiction,” he said.

“I don’t intend to embarrass you now by retelling those matters.

“But you are to be distinguished from someone who has developed an addiction for no reason at all.

“It seems to have a relationship, and a fairly close one, with the psychological factors.”

Justice Burns said Walsh and the community would be better served if a “longer than usual” period of parole supervision was imposed.

Walsh was sentenced to a three year and six month jail term, and he will be eligible to apply for parole after serving six months.