Joshua Braid, Camilla Thomas: Redlands duo’s ice trafficking ring
A Redlands factory worker has been sentenced for acting as his housemate’s agent in her ice trafficking ring.
Redlands Coast
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A Redlands factory worker acted as the right-hand man in his housemate’s drug-trafficking ring, a court has heard.
Birkdale man Joshua Laman Braid, 33, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court on Thursday to five offences, most seriously trafficking in a dangerous drug and possessing a dangerous drug Diazepam.
It comes four months after his housemate and the principal offender, Capalaba woman Camilla Jane Thomas, 38, was sentenced on eight counts including trafficking in dangerous drugs and multiple counts of possessing dangerous drugs.
The court on Thursday heard Braid’s role in the ice, GHB (i.e. liquid fantasy) and cannabis trafficking ring was detected following the launch of police operation Romeo Togo, which specifically targeted Thomas’ drug activities.
She trafficked at a street level between October 20, 2019 and July 7, 2020, when she and Braid were arrested and charged, while Braid assisted the operation from November 29.
The court heard the trafficking operation was conducted at Finucane Rd, Capalaba, before the duo moved together to MacFarlane St, Birkdale, to continue the business.
Braid was Thomas’ “subordinate”, the court heard, performing tasks such as sourcing clients and transporting product on behalf of his housemate, in return for drugs.
On May 26 last year, police executed a search warrant on the MacFarlane St address, which uncovered a variety of dangerous drugs and drug paraphernalia, including Braid’s Diazepam tablets.
However, it wasn’t until the subsequent search warrant on July 7 that the trafficking ring was busted.
The court heard for much of the trafficking period, Braid was on parole.
He has spent 316 days in custody and still has another 222 days to serve on the pre-existing sentence, the court heard.
Braid was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for an operational period of four years, and placed on probation.
Thomas was sentenced on July 30 to three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended.
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