Operation Mike Tyras: How Sunshine Coast painter turns to drug trafficking

A painter with no criminal history turned into a major drug trafficker “overnight”. Police have now revealed why and the methods he used to flood ice into the Sunshine Coast.

He was known only as “the driver”.

Adam Charles Johns was a painter from Redbank Creek with no criminal history who turned into a drug trafficker overnight and supplied the Sunshine Coast with several kilograms of meth a week.

He did it all by hiding in plain sight.

Police said it was his trade that set him on a downward spiral.

Johns had been tasked to paint the house of his high school associate and prominent drug trafficker Luke Perrett.

The then-34-year-old started doing deliveries and overnight went from a tradie wage to earning $10,000 a week.

The police investigations showed Johns had a customer base of about 24 people from the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Moreton Bay, all who purchased ice.

Sunshine Coast detectives Chris Eaton and Craig Mansfield speaking to drug trafficker Adam Johns inside the Mount Gravatt safe house.

Perrett once told police Johns “delivered about 30kg of ice and collected more than $6.5 million over nine months”.

“Effectively it was just the greed for him. Easy money. Here he is slaving away painting houses earning $1000 a week to earning $10,000 overnight,” Sergeant Mansfield said.

“He sold it to himself that he didn’t know what he was doing. So he didn’t feel like a drug dealer.

“He had no priors and was not a user. It was all about financial gain.”

Johns would leave his home near Esk or a safe house in Mount Gravatt and load up.

His route spanned more than 500km a day and he delivered multiple kilograms a week, receiving a substantial bonus each time.

To ensure he earned his bonus he would encourage his customers to purchase more.

From the Ettamogah Pub car park to public parks, rest stops and service stations, his drop offs would be completed in broad daylight.

Johns’ vehicle was modified with a concealment where the front passenger airbag was usually housed.

This panel was electronically opened using a key fob in combination with another switch.

He and his customers would pose as tradesmen and meet in public with the drugs hidden in the backs of portable car battery kits.

Johns would arrive, hand over the kit to an awaiting customer who at a naked eye appeared to be having car trouble.

“It was very quickly, drop off and go get a coffee,” Sergeant Mansfield said.

Johns had at least 10 main customers on the Sunshine Coast he’d source to.

“They then in turn would send out texts to their people,” he said.

“He was referred to as the driver only, no one knew his name. He would just load up and go.”

Sergeant Mansfield said Johns was the syndicate’s version of Australia Post.

“Greed just got hold of him, he was a normal guy who just saw the dollar signs,” he said.

“Absolutely he had regrets. Here was a man who really hadn’t been in trouble. A massive amount of regret.”

Johns was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on July 26, 2017 on one count of drug trafficking and eight other matters.

He was given a head sentence of five years’ jail, suspended for a period of five years after serving 20 months.

This is the second of a four-part series which goes inside a major drug trafficking syndicate and reveals how police cracked open the $3 million ring.

On Friday we reveal three biggest customers on the Sunshine Coast which sourced their meth from Johns.

Read more of this series in the print edition of the Sunshine Coast Daily which will be available weekly on Fridays, starting August 27.