‘Enthusiastic businessman’ brought down in trafficking sting

A Townsville father has been jailed after a tactical police operation brought down his “enterprise”.

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AN “enthusiastic businessman” has been jailed after a large scale tactical police operation targeting drug trafficking caught him in the act.

Kye Andrew Niveri, 28, pleaded guilty to a 10 count indictment and four summary charges in the Townsville Supreme Court on Friday.

The father of two was sentenced to five-and-a-half years behind bars for trafficking a dangerous drug after his “substantial addiction to meth” led to a life as an “organised and aggressive trafficker”.

Crown prosecutor Andrew Walklate said a large operation targeting drug trafficking in Townsville led police to intercept calls between Niveri and another significant drug supplier.

The court heard Niveri was a customer and would purchase drugs and sell them on to his clients.

Kye Andrew Niveri fronted the Townsville Supreme Court on May 21, 2021. Photo: Facebook.

Mr Walklate said Niveri had a customer base of 20 different people, six of whom were on selling.

Mr Walklate said Niveri was owed $30,000 from his customer base but was “readily able to get cash”.

The court heard that on September 7, 2019 police were called to a disturbance at Kirwan where Niveri and a group of associates were attempting to kick a door in.

A van parked outside the premises was searched and found to contain a black zipper bag that contained four clip seal bags.

Within the bags was 33 grams of pure meth with a purity level between 67.9 and 70.2 per cent.

Three months later on December 27, police were conducting patrols and came across Niveri in the car park of the Rising Sun Hotel at 3.15am.

A search on that occasion found 29.174 grams of pure meth with a purity level between 74.7 and 76.1 per cent.

Mr Walklate said other items were also found consistent with drug trafficking as well as a shotgun, ammunition, knife and $2500 of cash.

Niveri’s barrister Travis Schmitt said his client began experimenting with drugs when he left school and subsequently developed a substantial addiction to meth after the breakdown of his relationship with his fiance in 2012.

Mr Schmitt said Niveri’s drug use increased at the time and he had remained a drug user since.

In sentencing, Justice David North said Niveri’s offending occurred in the background of a “concerning” criminal history “littered with convictions” for various drug offences.

Justice North described Niveri as an “intermediate” level trafficker and said “the evidence indicates you were a busy and enthusiastic businessman selling a lot of methamphetamine to customers”.

“Your enterprise was large and organised,” he said.

Niveri was sentenced to five-and-a-half years imprisonment, with convictions recorded.

Pre-sentence custody of 506 days was declared and he will be eligible for parole on November 1.

Originally published as ‘Enthusiastic businessman’ brought down in trafficking sting