Keith Douglas Jacklin sold meth to undercover cop in Mackay police operation

A trucker in his 50s was described in court as a “significant player” in the Central Queensland meth trade, after he sold thousands of dollars worth of drugs to an undercover officer and was later caught in a series of sweeping raids.

A trucker in his 50s was described in court as a “significant player” in the Central Queensland meth trade, after he sold thousands of dollars worth of drugs to an undercover officer and was later caught in a series of sweeping raids.

A middle-aged truck driver who supplied an undercover cop with $67,000 worth of meth and offered to sell a further $55,000 worth has finally faced court.

Between October 8 and December 23, 2021, Keith Douglas Jacklin sold methylamphetamine on four occasions to an officer involved in the dual Mackay police operations Sierra Asteroid and Tango Radar.

One last attempted drug deal on January 11, 2022 was soon followed by sweeping raids across the region the next day, including at Jacklin’s Marian home where police found his phone, a used pipe, methane, plastic bags and a heat sealer.

Keith Douglas Jacklin, 51, leaving Mackay courthouse on June 6, 2024 after his sentence for "significant" supplies of methylamphetamine. Photo: Zoe Devenport

When the 51 year old faced Mackay District Court on Thursday, Judge Terry Gardiner described him as a “significant player in the supply of methylamphetamine” despite having no criminal history.

“What we’re dealing with here is a mature man with really an astonishing criminal history of nothing who gets himself involved in very serious and significant offending of commercial supplies of methylamphetamine,” Crown prosecutor Stephanie Gallagher said.

Defence lawyer Michael Gatenby said Jacklin had a “longstanding addiction” to meth that began as “using speed to stay awake” during his transport and trucking job, using daily at its height.

Detectives from the Mackay Criminal Investigation Branch, in collaboration with the Organised Crime and Gangs Group, have simultaneously closed two major drug operations codenamed Sierra Asteroid and Tango Radar.

Mr Gatenby said Jacklin regularly had his urine drug tested as part of his job trucking out to the Middlemount coal mine.

The court heard the then 48-year old trucker spent 422 days in presentence custody after his arrest on January 12 until receiving Supreme Court bail on March 9, 2023.

Mr Gatenby said since Jacklin’s release he had not reoffended and had moved back into his mother’s home to focus on his rehabilitation.

Jacklin’s mother, father, and two friends were in court to support him.

Detectives from the Mackay Criminal Investigation Branch, in collaboration with the Organised Crime and Gangs Group, have simultaneously closed two major drug operations codenamed Sierra Asteroid and Tango Radar.

Jacklin pleaded guilty to five counts of meth supply, possession of a phone used for drug deals, and two summary charges of possessing things used in the commission of a drug offence and a used pipe.

Judge Gardiner sentenced Jacklin to five years imprisonment for the five drug supply and two years imprisonment for the phone, with convictions but no further punishment for the summary offences.

Jacklin had his parole release date set that same day after having his 422 days in presentence custody declared time served.