Gold Coast duo Onur Ada, Chris Duspara jailed for cocaine trafficking
They wined and dined with sports stars, engaged bikies as hired muscle and lived in exclusive locales on the Gold Coast. Now they’ll be wearing prison green.
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It’s mid-2017 and Gold Coast duo Onur Ada and Chris Duspara are living the life of Riley.
The older of the two, Ada, then aged 29, was living at the ritzy Hilton Hotel Surfers Paradise and travelling the world with his supermodel fiance Joanna Hill, against whom there is no allegation of wrongdoing, and their young child.
He was also reportedly chums with Australian tennis badboy Bernard Tomic, the pair being snapped together dining at Coast institution Etsu in the months to follow.
Duspara, meanwhile, a finance manager in the automotive industry reportedly earning upwards of $200,000 a year, was also planning a relaxing overseas getaway with his then-girlfriend and had the year previously snagged a three-bedroom property at Bundall for $569,000.
The pair both drove sleek BMWs, with Ada also owning a Mercedes-Benz which he rented out, and they had just founded a car dealership together at Southport, Car Jungle.
Outwardly, the Sydney-born pair had all the markings of self-made success – but each harboured a dark secret.
In Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday, it was revealed Ada, of Surfers Paradise, and Duspara, of Arundel, were the cocaine kings of the Glitter Strip, engaging outlaw motorcycle gang heavies to rough up their competition and using their ill-gotten gains to fund their business venture.
The pair, now aged 33 and 27 respectively, both pleaded guilty to trafficking in cocaine between December 14, 2016 and November 3, 2017, conducting hundreds of deals with at least 60 customers, and possessing mobile phones used in connection with their trafficking.
They will now be exchanging their expensive suits for prison greens, after Justice David Boddice sentenced them both to serve at least 18 months of a six-year head sentence.
The court heard Duspara was the public face of the organisation, which police initially alleged was linked to the Comanchero bikie gang, before dropping the allegation in 2019.
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Marks told the court Duspara was the “frontman”, conducting sales, sourcing product and collecting debts.
Ada, meanwhile, was the “consultant”, lending his “name and reputation” to the operation, providing advice, networking and support to Duspara.
Both men, the court heard, were “heavy users” of the drug themselves and Ada would purchase his product from Duspara at cost-price, or sometimes get it for free.
While police were able to ascertain at least 365 actual supplies or offers to supply cocaine, the true number of customers and suppliers is “unknown”, Ms Marks said, as the duo’s BlackBerry mobile phones could not be forensically downloaded.
The pair conducted conversation in a foreign language, spoke in code and used encrypted messaging apps to avoid detection, Ms Marks said.
A search of Duspara’s car and home on June 14, 2017, which uncovered commercial quantities of cocaine and suspect mobile phones, did not deter the duo, who continued on their business although adopting a “more cautious” approach, until their final arrest later that year on November 2.
Meanwhile, the pair leveraged alleged bikie gang contacts to threaten violence against all who opposed them or refused to pay their debts, Ms Marks said.
In one conversation read to the court, Duspara boasted he was “untouchable... I can deal whenever, wherever, however and to whoever I want”.
“And if they f*** with me, they will have bigger problems than World War III,” Dusparo said.
Ada and Duspara were motivated by nothing more than “greed”, Ms Marks said, noting profits were ploughed into their joint car sales venture and their affluent lifestyles independent of their drug-traffickin operation.
Both defendants’ respective counsels told the court their clients had made significant efforts at rehabilitation.
Ada’s counsel Gerry Elmore told the court his client reconnected with his faith and attended a 10-week program at his local mosque and had not reoffended since being charged.
Duspara’s counsel Alastair McDougall said his client had kicked his drug habit and despite his recent convictions for fraud and forgery, had been performing well on probation.
Justice Boddice said despite the well-documented issues with the Parole Board of Queensland, their offending was too serious for a sentence to go as low as five years – thus enabling him to suspend it after a period of time – as per the counsels’ submission.
Ada and Duspara were made parole-eligible on March 14, 2023, after they will have each served 18 months of their sentence.
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