‘Ugly’ member of world’s largest ecstasy bust wins citizenship fight

A man jailed for his part in what was then the world’s largest ecstasy bust is a step closer to becoming an Australian citizen after a tribunal overturned a decision that he was not of good character.

A disability pensioner who was jailed for his part in a ring behind what was then the world’s largest ecstasy bust has won a second chance to become an Australian citizen after a tribunal overturned Peter Dutton’s decision that he was not of good character.

Turkish citizen Amren Joskun, 59, a former fruit picker from the NSW Riverina town of Griffith, was jailed in 2012 for helping one of the nation’s most notorious mafia bosses by trafficking 270,000 ecstasy pills from Sydney to Melbourne in his own car in February 2008.

Amren Joskun

Joskun handed the pills over to his boss, drug syndicate leader Pasquale Barbaro, who referred to Joskun in conversations as “the ugly one with no teeth” and “the other f***ing ugly c***”, and was arrested on his return to Sydney with $119,950 cash concealed in his car.

Joskun was one of 32 people who were jailed for a total of 275 years over the seizure of 15 million ecstasy pills, worth $440 million and weighing 4.4T, hidden inside 3000 tomato tins shipped from Italy to Melbourne.

Barbaro is serving 30 years without parole, one of the longest sentences ever imposed in Australia for a drug crime for his leading role in the ecstasy smuggling.

Joskun, who was sentenced to 14 months in prison for trafficking the ecstasy, has been living in Sydney on the disability support pension since 2009 and arrived in Australia in 1988.

He was granted a permanent visa in 1991.

He applied for Australian citizenship by conferral in July 2019 but it was refused in April last year by a delegate of the then Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Peter Dutton, because Joskun was found to be “not of good character”.

But in his decision handed down last Friday Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) senior member Chris Pupick, set aside the ministerial delegate’s refusal and ruled that Joskun deserved a “second chance” at citizenship because he was satisfied that he “is a person of good character”.

Pasquale Barbaro, who Joskun handed the pills over to.

Mr Pupick, a former senator and President of the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board and NSW Privacy Commissioner, stated in his decision that Joskun only needs to pass the Citizenship Test and he will be eligible to become a citizen.

The central reason why Mr Dutton’s delegate refused Joskun’s application was because the delegate found he “deliberately sought to mislead the department about his prior criminal record” by failing to declare three convictions in 2005 for possession of “speed”, amphetamines and cannabis, and two drink driving convictions.

He also failed to declare that his sentence for the ecstasy trafficking was for 14 months, instead claiming it was the lesser mandatory six-month sentence.

Joskun argued a family member filled out the application form and he didn't understand he needed to give full details.

Mr Puplick ruled that Joskun’s ecstasy trafficking for Barbaro appeared to be “opportunistic rather than premeditated”.

Some of the 3000 tomato tins containing ecstasy pills seized at Melbourne’s port in 2007 after they were shipped from Naples, Italy.

Joskun was introduced to Barbaro when he worked in Griffith, NSW, through his friend, fellow Turk and fruit picker Kadir Demir, who offered him $25,000 to drive several sports bags to Melbourne.

Demir also advised the drug gang on how to avoid being detected transporting pills by road.

Demir travelled with Joskun when they trafficked the ecstasy pills to Melbourne in 2008 and was jailed for two years for his role.

Joskun claimed he did not know the bags he delivered to Barbaro contained 270,000 ecstasy pills, although he admitted knowing it was some sort of illegal substance, the tribunal heard.

Joskun’s friends told the tribunal that he was a gentle man who was caring and family oriented.

The tomato tins which were filled with either ecstasy pills or gravel to make up the weight of a shipment of genuine tomato cans.

Nine of the 32 men jailed over the tomato tin bust and related trafficking are currently trying to have their drug trafficking convictions quashed in the wake of the Lawyer X scandal.
They include Calabrian mafia figure Frank Madafferi, who was represented by supergrass Nicola Gobbo leading up him receiving a ten year jail term over the 2007 bust, underworld figure Saverio Zir­illi sentenced to 26 years for his role in the same ­ecstasy bust, Rob Karam who got 19 years, Salvatore Agresta who was sentenced to 16 years prison and John Higgs who got 18 years prison.