Stolen South Australian hire car at CQ motel led police to drug bust

A man ran into police holding a bag full of drugs after they spotted a stolen hire car from South Australia in a central western Queensland town car park.

A man ran into police holding a bag full of drugs after officers spotted a stolen hire car from South Australia in a central western Queensland town car park.

John Montzka, 42, could see police at the rear of the motel room he was in, so he grabbed his bag and dashed out the front door, straight into more police.

Montzka pleaded guilty on May 5 in the Supreme Court in Rockhampton to one count of possessing a dangerous drugs in excess of two grams.

The court heard a police officer was at a business in Ilfracombe on March 26, 2020, when they noticed the South Australia registration plates on a vehicle outside, and then focused their attention on a female at the counter acting suspiciously.

Checks revealed the car belonged to a hire company and had been stolen from South Australia.

Further inquiries led police to the motel room Montzka was in, with police officers watching from the rear of the room as Montzka picked up a bag and headed to the front door.

Police opened the front door with Montzka walking straight into them, struggling with them while still holding the bag.

Eventually, police were able to arrest and handcuff Montzka who then told police there were drugs in the bag but they were not his.

He told them he found the drugs in the hotel.

Justice Graeme Crow said: “that was plainly a lie”.

Inside the bag, police located two clip-seal bags containing a crystal substance which had red tops and one clip seal bag containing a further 17 clip-seal bags containing a crystal substance.

Examination of each 17 bags revealed they each weighed about 0.1 grams, totalling 1.75 grams, of methamphetamine, labelled Rock 17.

There was another clip seal bag labelled “mix” containing 11 clip seal bags, each with a crystal substance of about 0.1g.

It also contained two crystal rocks.

In total, police located 4.854 grams of pure meth in 6.864g of substance.

They also found needles, glass pipes, number plates and stolen jewellery.

Montzka told police another South Australian man had left the items in the room.

The court heard Montzka had criminal records in South Australia, Victoria and Queensland, dating back to the 1990s and included a conviction for trafficking controlled drugs.

Justice Crow said the criminal record showed Montzka had a longstanding issue with drugs.

Montzka had been addicted to heroin until 2009 and was then introduced to meth.

He had moved to Queensland in 2020 and resides at Hervey Bay.

Justice Crow sentenced Montzka to 20 months prison, declared 202 days presentence custody and immediate parole release.

Originally published as Stolen South Australian hire car at CQ motel led police to drug bust