Neil Leslie Freemantle: Drug trafficker busted after police bugged New Farm house, seized $1.5m cash

A trafficker’s luxurious lifestyle unravelled after police bugged his home and discovered he was involved in a massive interstate trafficking operation, moving drugs including marijuana, cocaine, MDMA and testosterone.

A man’s life of luxury unravelled after police bugged his home and discovered he was involved in a massive interstate trafficking operation, moving drugs including marijuana, cocaine, MDMA and testosterone.

Neil Leslie Freemantle, 31, will be behind bars for at least eight years for his role in the operation, after he went from being the “keeper” of drugs and money to being an active drug trafficker, the Brisbane Supreme Court heard on Thursday.

It comes more than three years after his arrest in September 2018, when police seized $1.5m cash and more than 44kg of marijuana during a raid on his New Farm home.

Police from Taskforce Maxima found the drugs and cash hidden around the residence, stuffed in suitcases and packed in cryovac bags.

Police found more than $1.5m cash and more than 40kg of various drugs in Neil Leslie Freemantle's New Farm residence during a raid in 2018.

Officers also found 432g of a substance containing 170g of pure cocaine, 2kg of a substance containing 600g of pure MDMA, 10g of pure MDA and 30 vials of testosterone worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Luxury items including designer shoes, beauty products, instruments and a professional camera were also seized.

At the same time, police intercepted a customer who was leaving Freemantle’s residence and found $50,000 worth of marijuana, or 8.91kg sealed in 11 cryovac bags.

Crown prosecutor Victoria Adams said police had bugged Freemantle’s home with listening devices in August 2018 and would perform “tactical intercepts” on customers as they left the residence.

She said Freemantle was part of an operation which was trafficking drugs at a wholesale level and used runners to transport drugs interstate.

Police found there was evidence of Freemantle’s trafficking prior to August that year, and on one occasion he supplied 11.13kg of marijuana in 25 cryovac bags for $73,500.

Between August 29 and Freemantle’s arrest on September 10, 2018, police overheard 30 drug transactions and conversations about how to hide the large sums of cash.

Ms Adams said Freemantle had $346,573.73 of “unexplained wealth” in bank accounts which he used for holidays and buying luxury items, and another $177,000 for a house deposit.

This was in addition to the more than $1.56m seized during the raid.

Freemantle’s partner Rachel Roberta McKinnon was also arrested following the raid but charges against her were dropped after Freemantle pleaded guilty, the court heard.

Freemantle was sentenced on Thursday on 13 charges including one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs, two counts of supplying dangerous drugs and two counts of possessing a dangerous drug specified in schedule 1 or 2.

He was also charged further drug possession offences and one count each of possessing anything used in the commission of crime defined in part 2, possessing property suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under drugs misuse act, possessing tainted property and failing to take reasonable care and precautions in respect of syringe or needle.

Freemantle’s defence barrister said the 31-year-old had not committed relevant offences since his arrest and had been engaging in rehabilitation programs.

He also said Freemantle had since been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but when Justice David Boddice questioned the link between this diagnosis and the offending he said there was “no connection.”

“I wouldn’t say (Freemantle’s) rehabilitation has been a stellar performance,” Justice Boddice said.

Neil Leslie Freemantle was arrested after police seized more than $1.5m cash and more than 40kg of various drugs from his New Farm residence.

He said Freemantle’s role in the operation was escalating at the time of his arrest and he would have been making “enormous sums of money” had police not shut it down.

“(He had gone) from being the keeper of drugs and money to being an active participant in the trafficking operation,” Justice Boddice said.

He noted that the drugs and money seized belonged to other people but that that did not diminish Freemantle’s criminality.

In his sentencing remarks, Justice Boddice said he had taken into account Freemantle’s guilty plea, mental health, his offending and general and personal deterrence.

He said he was satisfied that Freemantle’s offending warranted a head sentence of 10 years.

The sentence meant Freemantle would be declared a serious violent offender and have to serve a minimum of 80 per cent of the sentence in prison.

He said a sentence less than 10 years would not properly reflect Freemantle’s level of criminality.

Freemantle’s 23 days of pre-sentence custody was declared time served.