Chloe Victoria Smith jailed over violent drug business

A Queensland beauty worker and mother-of-three cried in court as she was sentenced over her involvement in a violent drug trafficking network which stretched from the Gold Coast to Cairns.

Chloe Victoria Smith has been sentenced for her role in the ‘violent’ operation.

A beauty worker and mother-of-three will spend eight months behind bars over her involvement in a drug trafficking network which also involved severe violence.

Chloe Victoria Smith, a 30-year-old local eyelash technician, pleaded guilty to a raft of charges more than three years after she was arrested in Operation Romeo Suitcase.

She was sentenced in Mackay Supreme Court on Monday afternoon over 12 charges – the most serious being unlawfully possessing weapons as well as possessing, supplying and trafficking dangerous drugs.

Smith and her ex-partner, Reece William Luscombe, were arrested in March 2020 when police raided their Rural View home in an operation targeting an alleged drug network spanning from the Gold Coast to Cairns.

Officers seized items from Smith and Luscombe’s home including a Maserati, $100,000 in cash and 185.932g of pure meth with a street value of up to $44,000.

Chloe Victoria Smith cried throughout her sentencing.

Luscombe pleaded guilty in March 2022 to trafficking meth for six months between 2019 and 2020 and was jailed for nine years with parole eligibility on August 15, 2023.

It is understood he remains behind bars.

In sentencing, Justice Graeme Crow said it was a “difficult decision” over whether Smith should spend any further time in prison or receive a wholly suspended sentence.

Mackay woman Chloe Victoria Smith will spend time behind bars.

“I accept that you have undergone a great deal of rehabilitation, I accept that you work and support yourself and your (special needs) son. That is much to your credit,” he said.

“The difficulty is that the criminal conduct you were involved in was quite high-level. It seems to me, therefore, that even though you have turned your back on drugs and have been fully rehabilitated, it is appropriate that you spend some further time incarcerated.”

Justice Crow said Smith would have known the kind of person Luscombe was, where their money was coming from, and the violence he used.

‘CAVING AN ASSOCIATE’S HEAD IN’

He read out some of Luscombe’s language, which included talking about “caving an associate’s head in” or in another instance “shooting the c**ts”.

In one instance, the court heard after Luscombe had beaten a female and taken gold from her as well as her car, Smith asked him if she could have the woman’s stolen gold.

“You had knowledge of the existence of the stashes in which the drugs, cash and weapons were found. You would, at times, use the money generated from the drug trafficking operation for your own expenses,” Justice Crow said in sentencing on Monday.

“On occasion you encouraged Luscombe to violently collect drug debts and requested items from his victims, you assisted in luring a drug debtor to Luscombe and his associates for the purpose of violence, you received deliveries of cash from various associates of Luscombe, you chastised associates who revealed the location of you and Luscombe’s stash over the phone.”

The court heard Luscombe had been violent towards Smith during their relationship, including hitting her in the face in public.

Justice Crow sentenced Smith to three years in jail, but ordered she be released on parole after serving eight months – meaning she will be behind bars until May 2024.

A large contingent of Smith’s family and friends who were in court to support her cried at the conclusion of the hearing.

Smith cried throughout the proceedings.