Dr Octopus: Drug courier Craig Phelps caught with 16kg of cocaine
A MAN who blindly accepted an offer to collect a mystery package in exchange for fast cash was caught up in an extraordinary police sting involving a shadowy drug dealer known as “Dr Octopus 88”.
NSW
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A MAN who blindly accepted an offer to collect a mystery package in exchange for fast cash was caught up in an extraordinary police sting involving a shadowy drug dealer known as “Dr Octopus 88”.
Craig Phelps, 31, will spend at least the next two years and three months in jail after he was sentenced in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court on Friday over agreeing in 2016 to act as a “courier” and sit off a Newcastle home to collect a parcel which contained 16kg of cocaine.
District Court Judge Mark Williams sentenced him to a maxim of four years and six months in jail following his plea of guilty for attempting to possess illegal drugs.
Police were watching Phelps the whole time after he was caught up in an extraordinary police sting involving a massive international crime syndicate run by a former US college football star.
US crime kingpin, Owen Hanson, was handed a 21-year jail term in the US District Court in San Diego in December last year after he was caught out running an international drug smuggling and gambling empire, which involved the mysterious “Dr Octopus 88” who police allege is Potts Point man Roberto Zalapa, 33.
Phelps, a fitness expert, was caught up in the sting which began in September 2016 when police pulled Rio Tinto executive Bennet Schwartz off the flight he was about to take with his innocent fiancee Sarah Wakefield at Sydney Airport.
Schwartz had popped up on the police radar when his computer IP address was allegedly used to monitor the delivery status of two cocaine shipments, totalling 25kg, being smuggled from the US in the post.
Police took his BlackBerry Phantom, a popular device among criminal syndicates trying to hide their identity due to their high level of encryption, and adopted his identity.
Police adopted Schwartz’s identity and began texting Zalapa.
On September 8, 2016 police allege Zalapa sent a text to Schwartz’s phone asking him to “pack as (a) sausage maker”, documents previously tendered in court said.
On September 11 that same year Phelps was arrested by undercover officers outside a Newcastle home attempting to collect the 16kg shipment of cocaine which was labelled as a “food sausage stuffier”, the documents said.
READ MORE: Private schoolboy allegedly busted smuggling coke via mail
His barrister Greg James SC told the court his client played a “menial role” in the operation and had agreed to act as courier no questions asked because he was in desperate need of cash.
“He was simply there to be a front for the parcel and transmitting it,” Mr James told the court.
“Approached by a man in a bar and offer some money to you and tells you have to get a false licence but he did not know what was going to be in the package.
“He had an expensive wedding coming up, he did not expect it to finance the entire wedding with this, that was not his motivation.”
Soon after Phelps arrest Zalapa allegedly texted police on Schwartz’s phone and wrote: “We have a massive problem here. Guy waiting at address was picked up by police”.
Soon after, police arrived and arrested Zalapa in Potts Point.
Schwartz was last week jailed for a maximum of eight years, while Zalapa is expected to be sentenced later this month for his role in the drug supply syndicate.
Phelps will be eligible for parole in June 2020.