Drug dealer Omar El-Nachar’s partner Tara Harding caught on tape after arrest

The court heard the methamphetamine dealer’s partner was caught on tape calling police ‘idiots’ for missing out on busting ‘NSW’s biggest syndicate’ after the couple’s arrest.

Tara Harding covers her head as she leaves court on bail in July last year.

After a series of NT Police raids between May and July last year, Tara Harding thought she was having the last laugh.

“Police are idiots,” the Supreme Court heard she told an unnamed person on July 10, “they could have got NSW’s biggest syndicate”.

“Mahmoud was going to fly up. He was coming to get it. His flight was booked.”

Little did Harding know, her grey Toyota Kluger had been bugged the whole time and the “idiots” had heard every word.

On Tuesday, her partner, Omar El-Nachar pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to supplying a commercial quantity of methamphetamine and possessing a trafficable quantity of cocaine following the conclusion of Operation Tay in August.

The court heard investigators had identified El-Nachar and “his Sydney-based drug supplier Mahmoud Jalloul” as “principal targets of an established criminal network” trafficking meth from Sydney to Darwin.

According to the agreed facts, police recorded El-Nachar telling Harding “he was supplying an ounce of methamphetamine for $14,000” in May before he supplied another dealer outside Humpty Doo with two ounces of the drug on “tick”.

Four days later on May 29, police overheard El-Nachar telling the woman she still owed him another $15,000 and asking her how long it would take her to sell it.

The next day, officers raided her home, finding more than 25g of meth and other drugs and drug paraphernalia as well as unsecured ammunition and “a box of 24 carat gold polymer currency”.

By June 11, El-Nachar and Jalloul had allegedly supplied the woman with another two ounces of meth, with Jalloul telling her “you’ve returned one and you haven’t got the money”.

“(The woman) said ‘I’ll return the money right now’,” the court documents state.

“Jalloul then said to El-Nachar ‘She took two ounces two days ago’ and berated El-Nachar for giving it out on credit.

“A short time later, (the woman) returned to the vehicle and told El-Nachar and Jalloul that she got raided and she was doing the best she could and gave them some cash before they departed.”

On June 27, the wire allegedly recorded Harding and El-Nachar discussing the woman’s debt.

“It will put her in a deeper hole, which in turn puts us in a deeper hole,” Harding allegedly said.

On July 6, police found 13.36g of meth in another raid connected to the syndicate.

And in a third raid on July 7, investigators seized 129.22g of methamphetamines from a safe in El-Nachar and Harding’s wardrobe before they were each arrested and charged with “possessing and supplying dangerous drugs”.

After being granted bail three days later, Harding was again overheard on the listening device and it was then she allegedly offered her assessment of the officers’ cognitive capacity.

She will now face a call-over in the Supreme Court on Thursday while El-Nachar is due to return to court on April 11.

Originally published as Drug dealer Omar El-Nachar’s partner Tara Harding caught on tape after arrest