The North Coast’s biggest and latest cocaine offenders
The North Coast’s cocaine dealers or middlemen have been busted by police in increasing numbers as the drug rises in prominence. See the list.
Police & Courts
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Behind the pristine beaches of the North Coast, there is the dark underbelly of a growing cocaine crisis.
Within the past five years, the total number of dealers or middlemen caught with cocaine has risen by 21 per cent across NSW, according to NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.
The number of those caught using cocaine remains stable.
From influencers to tradies – there is no telling who will fall susceptible to the allure and ruin of the party drug within our own region.
Here are some of the faces behind some of the bigger busts in past years.
The dealers
Aaron Philippe-Collett
A self-proclaimed health guru who actively volunteered in the Byron community was jailed over his cocaine double life.
Aaron Philippe-Collett, 45, was sentenced in Lismore District Court in August last year to two years and eight months in jail for supplying a prohibited drug on an ongoing basis.
Additional charges included two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, two counts of possessing a prohibited drug, dealing with the proceeds of crime and obstructing or hindering a person with a warrant.
The court heard the Ewingsdale bricklayer supplied cocaine as a way to fuel his own addiction and was caught out supplying to undercover cops on more than three occasions.
During those sales, Philippe-Collett sold officers $1650 worth of cocaine.
Mikayla Noakes
A bartender and Instagram influencer caught up in a cross-border drug syndicate was sentenced to a 12 month intensive correction order in March last year.
Noakes plead guilty to participate criminal group contribute criminal activity, two counts of supply prohibited drug and possess prohibited drug in Tweed Heads Local Court.
She was also fined $300.
Noakes was charged with cocaine possession on November 14 last year, after she was stopped near the Pacific Highway at Chinderah.
Her two supply charges related to sales of small amounts of cocaine on October 4 and November 14, although on the second occasion when she was stopped police seized 0.78g of the drug.
According to court documents, she had a further 4g hidden in her bra which was not discovered at the time.
Samuel Burley
A Byron Bay man convicted of cocaine supply and repeatedly breaching an AVO was warned about the drug’s perils in April.
Samuel Burley, 35, was found guilty of the deemed supply of a prohibited drug after a hearing.
The court heard a bag containing 137g of cocaine fell from Burley’s pocket when police found him slumped over at a Byron Bay Mexican restaurant one evening in February 2020.
He was serving time for a revoked intensive corrections order when he appeared before Byron Bay Local Court for five counts of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order.
She said the drug had an estimated street value of upwards of $39,000.
Burley received a three year intensive corrections order and was ordered to complete 300 hours of community service work.
A Banora Point man was sentenced to six years prison after being caught with a ”smorgasbord” of drugs.
Stephen Hausfeld, 36, was sentenced in Lismore District Court back in 2019 on five counts of drug supply and one charge relating to a large sum of cash.
The offences related to a total of 355.1g of cocaine and 247.4g of methamphetamine as well as an amount of oxycodone and cannabis leaf.
Judge Peter Whitford said while there were “not many of the usual indicia of supply”, there was planning evident in the ”smorgasbord” of drugs seized.
He sentenced Hausfeld to six years in jail with a non parole period of three years.
Nathan and Dru Baggaley
A former silver medal-winning Olympian fell spectacularly from grace when he was embroiled and sentenced for a scheme to smuggle a massive amount of cocaine into the country back in July last year.
Nathan Baggaley, 45, is a three-time world champion 500m kayaker who won two silver medals for Australia in the 2004 Athens Olympics.
But in 2018, he and his accomplices tried to import more than 500kg of cocaine into Australia.
Instead of using his marine skills, Baggaley was waiting onshore near Byron Bay while his brother Dru and another man collected the cocaine from a foreign boat.
However, police intercepted their inflatable boat and all three men were arrested, including Baggaley on shore. Police charged them with the attempted importation of an estimated $200 million of cocaine
Although he pleaded not guilty, the court found Baggaley’s guilt proven and sentenced him to 25 years in prison with a 12 year non-parole period.
Dru received a 28-year jail term with a non-parole period of 16 years.
The middlemen
Levent Saracoglu
A man was sentenced to six years jail for his role as an attempted courier of 1.526kg of cocaine illegally imported from Canada, a Lismore court heard in November.
Levent Saracoglu, 44, was found guilty of attempting to possess a marketable quantity of a unlawfully imported border control drug.
Judge Warwick Hunt told the court police became aware of the imported package when they intercepted an international package using the stolen identity of a Newtown resident in early January 2020.
Border Force officers examined the package and found 1.526kg of pure cocaine, estimated to have a retail value of $5 million.
Defence Barrister Brian Joyce said Saracoglu was offered between $1000 and $1500 and was a “dupe” to pick up the package from a parcel locker.
Judge Hunt conceded Saracoglu was not trusted by those attempting to get the cocaine.
He will be eligible for release in March 2024.
Alyse Cameron
At no stage did Cameron have control over the drug or was involved in supply, Mr Dakin said.
Defence Lawyer Annabel Wurth said the texts were comparable to the “support you would offer someone complaining about their boss”.
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