Michael Junior Tiatia: Durack ice dealer jailed for six years

A Brisbane man is set for a long stint behind bars after being busted with massive amounts of ice twice in four months.

A Brisbane man was busted with nearly 120g of methamphetamine over two occasions, including once where tick sheets were found on his phone, under a pile of laundry and stuffed down the front of his underwear.

Durack man Michael Junior Tiatia, 30, pleaded guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court on Wednesday to eight indictable offences and five summary drug offences.

They included two counts each of possessing a Schedule 3 quantity of ice, possessing controlled drugs, and possessing property suspected of being used in the commission of a drug offence, inter alia.

The court heard Tiatia’s two groups of drug offending occurred on September 2, 2019, and January 14, 2020, at which point he was arrested and spent 95 days remanded in custody, until being bailed on April 17.

Durack man Michael Junior Tiatia, 30. Picture: Alex Treacy

The court heard the September 2 offending was discovered as a result of a search warrant on his Glenala Rd, Durack address.

That search warrant uncovered 105g of pure ice in 137.5g of substance, two tablets of Viagra, two glass pipes, a Suboxone strip (i.e. buprenorphine), two mobile phones, and tick sheets secreted under a pile of laundry and also shoved down the front of his underwear.

He was granted Bail for these offences, but just four months later Tiatia was back to his old ways.

Police witnessed Tiatia get into a car which had just parked outside his address about 1pm on January 14, 2020, and followed it for a search.

They uncovered a small black storage device in Tiatia’s pocket, which contained 12.46g of pure ice in 16g of substance, as well as a Viagra tablet in his wallet.

The court was told Tiatia spiralled into drug addiction after the breakdown of his relationship with the mother of his four children in 2018.

This caused him to lose his job as a loadmaster in a Murarrie warehouse, which he had held down for nearly a decade.

He has since obtained work as an overnight cleaner and tree lopper, the court heard, and has a new partner.

Tiatia was sentenced to six years’ jail and will be eligible for parole on December 20, 2022.

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