Alexander John Hart: Hope Island cocaine trafficker jailed for year-long business

A young Gold Coast man who bought wholesale amounts of cocaine worth tens of thousands of dollars a pop from a syndicate linked to the Comanchero bikie gang will return to prison.

Alexander John Hart leaves Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading guilty to trafficking cannabis and cocaine. He was sentenced on June 4, 2025. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

A young Gold Coaster who purchased wholesale amounts of cocaine worth tens of thousands of dollars a pop from a syndicate linked to the Comanchero bikie gang will return to jail.

Hope Island man Alexander John Hart, 27, appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court for sentence on Wednesday, June 4, having previously pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs and possessing property suspected of having been used in the commission of a drug offence.

The trafficking was committed at Ashmore and elsewhere between March 26, 2022, and his arrest, alongside several other men alleged to have formed a syndicate, on March 1, 2023.

Crown prosecutor Stephen Muir told the court Hart’s trafficking, although predominantly at the street level, represented a “serious example” of the offence.

He said Hart bought in wholesale quantities worth tens of thousands of dollars from the syndicate, supplied cocaine in quantities of up to an ounce, had access to firearms, and at times discussed sicking the Comanchero on customers who owed a debt.

Alexander John Hart leaves Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading guilty to trafficking cannabis and cocaine. Picture: NewsWire / John Gass

However, Mr Muir added the caveat there was no evidence Hart actually took steps to obtain guns or recruit Comanchero members to chase debts, and it was not alleged he did so.

The court was also told Hart extended credit – one customer owed him $6000 at one point – and was able to purchase large quantities of cocaine from the syndicate on credit.

Further, Hart continued to trade despite knowing police had begun to turn their attentions to the syndicate, and made efforts to secure new suppliers once the syndicate became compromised.

The court was told Hart, who was a user of the drug but not an addict, had no prior criminal history prior to his trafficking operation, which also included smaller quantities of cannabis.

He served 56 days’ pre-sentence custody before being granted bail by the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Hart was originally charged with trafficking in the context of serious organised crime, which carries with it a harsher penalty, but this allegation was discontinued.

Defence counsel Matthew Jackson his client had “removed himself from the drug vortex” in the more than two years he had been out on bail.

He said Hart had fully complied with onerous bail conditions, including a curfew and reporting several times a week; had held down full-time employment with his father, becoming an integral part of the business; and had undertaken rehabilitative courses and submitted a series of clear urine tests as evidence of his bona fides.

Justice Peter Callaghan said he accepted Hart had done all he could to rehabilitate and turn his life around, but the offending was too serious not to order the defendant be returned to prison.

Hart’s supporters, including his parents, began weeping at this pronouncement.

“I do accept you were not a part of the more sophisticated syndicate, but you were in the orbit of something truly sinister,” Justice Callaghan said.

He sentenced Hart to five years’ imprisonment, suspended after serving five months.

The suspended sentence will hang over Hart’s head for five years.

Several members of the alleged Comanchero-aligned syndicate remain before the Brisbane Supreme Court.

Originally published as Alexander John Hart: Hope Island cocaine trafficker jailed for year-long business