Luke Craig Wicks jailed for trafficking meth, dognapping dachshunds

Explosive messages between dealers and the staggering amount of meth moved from SEQ to mining towns by a boilermaker-turned drug kingpin can be revealed. INTERACTIVE MAP.

A former boilermaker has been exposed as the kingpin of a widespread meth trafficking ring targeting cashed-up Queensland miners.

Luke Craig Wicks, a boilermaker who Rockhampton Supreme Court heard was the “main supplier” moving meth between Brisbane and Central Queensland’s mining towns, appeared to be living the high life in 2022.

The 33-year-old, who had himself worked in the mines before he hurt his back, can be seen in social media images at the time sunning himself on a yacht in what he describes as “paradise”, sipping cocktails on the water and partying with mates at international music festival Tomorrowland.

A mix of encrypted messages and texts, now logged in court documents and referred to at this week’s sentencing hearing, reveal him bragging about the business opportunity for drug sales in his region and referring to another drug supplier taking 10 kilograms per week.

In one message to someone with the handle King Teflon 2.0 he writes: “I’ll definitely be in touch to get some of this meth. Proper market up here.

Luke Wicks captioned this 2022 photo on a yacht as "paradise" with a cocktail emoji.

Really nice price. Bro f***ing oath, around 5500 -6 is the average at the moment, but I’ll jump at them (sic) prices soon... I get a few ounces cash up, and they’ll be able to get at least eight to 10 ounce a fortnight”.

However, the messages also show how things started to unravel before his 2023 arrest when he resorted to dognapping an alleged drug dealer’s dachshunds for ransom in an effort to recoup some of the tens of thousands owed to him down the supply chain.

The court heard Wicks supplied the drugs to 21-year-old Springsure woman Lexie Rae Spannagle and two others - William ‘Billy’ Francis Neasey, 27, and fifth generation cattle farmer and Rockhampton Grammar graduate Matthew Ross Shambler, 29.

Emerald's William ‘Billy’ Francis Neasey, 27, trafficked methamphetamines between May 3 and September 19, 2023 and had 30 customers who he supplied at least 20 times.

Increasingly frantic and threatening messages are exchanged in the lead up to the dognapping as Wicks warns Neasey: “Things are about to get a lot worse. Tell Lexie to contact me... because she’s got till tonight, and it’s not my problem. What happens Billy, I know what farm and where it is that she’s been at Springsure and the other houses that are there and in Emerald, so it’s up to you c*** if you want to do things the easy way or the hard way”.

The court heard Wicks and another man broke into Miss Spannagle’s residence one night as she slept, entered her bedroom, flicked on the light and demanded the $4000 that she allegedly owed.

Lexie Rae Spannagle is charged with trafficking drugs. Her dachshunds were held as ransom by Luke Craig Wicks for an alleged drug debt.

It also heard that when Miss Spannagle allegedly told Wicks she didn’t have the cash at hand, the unknown man struck her at least twice.

She managed to organise $2000 to be paid to Wicks straight away and he took her two dachshund dogs as ransom, telling her to meet him at a specific location at a specific time with the rest of the money, which she did, the court was told.

Further messages sent afterwards reveal Wicks wrote to Miss Spannagle: “It’s not what I wanted. Lexi, you need to understand what I’ve had to deal with. How else do I get across that I’m done being f***ed around and ignored, no communication at all. I’m not getting touched up...I feel like I’ve been disrespected a lot... and that’s where I had to flick the switch and just walk. It was hard for me to do that, trust me, but I needed out of here. And my point taken seriously, I told him... not to flog (the) f***out of both of you like he normally would, because I care, and I wouldn’t want that, but I needed some kind of wake up”.

Lexie Spannagle's dachshunds were dognapped, allegedly as ransom for a drug debt.

Wicks’ business was detected during a police sting codenamed Operation Victor Coup which targeted crime syndicates involved in trafficking meth throughout Emerald, Springsure, Capella and Blackwater over a nine-month-period.

Police seized $52,000 worth of drugs and arrested 48 people on 196 charges including drugs, extortion and robbery.

Wicks was identified in court as the leader in one of these syndicates, sourcing drugs from southeast Queensland and supplying to others in the Central Highlands.

Neasey and Shambler were both sentenced for trafficking in August, 2024.

Miss Spannagle, who is also charged with drug trafficking, remains before the courts and as recently as last year appeared to still own the dogs, posting photos advertising puppies for sale alongside pictures of the dachshund “parents”.

Lexie Spannagle is understood to still own dachshunds and recently advertised puppies for sale.

This week’s sentencing hearing for Wicks was told that during a search of his Blackwater property on September 23, 2023, police found 7.373 grams of cocaine in 33.7 grams of substance, 3.81gm of MDMA in 9.456gm of substance, 30gm of marijuana along with vials of testosterone and knuckle dusters.

During another search on September 19, 2023, police found him with $1010 cash along with two grams of marijuana and several clip-seal bags containing a total weight of 2.964gms of substance of which 2.2gms was pure meth.

Crown prosecutor Joshua Phillips said a tick sheet labelled “debts and bills” found on Wicks’ mobile phone at the time of his arrest showed he still had a “total bill” of almost $50,000.

Luke Wicks is a boilermaker by trade and was working in the mines before he hurt is back.

“What it highlights is that over this period of time … it is a significant indicator of somebody operating at a relatively high level,” he said.

The court heard Wicks was owed more than $71,000 in drug debts at one time, supplying to at least 30 people on at least 72 occasions using SMS, Facebook messenger and phone calls to organise supplies.

At least nine supplies were for more than 3.5 grams of meth and at least seven were for exactly 3.5 grams.

There were nine supplies between 1.75 and 3.5 grams and police found evidence of at least 124 grams of meth being supplied by Wicks.

Other messages, read out in court, recorded Wicks saying in August 2023 that his bill was $71,000 and “I can’t afford to have everyone just expect me to get on with it at my expense” and “I’m ropeable … people are getting the hiding of their lifetime”.

Wicks continued to rant saying “my patience with rats like Kim and Rachael are gone … dogs are playing me like a fool … $6000 out of pocket”.

Justice Crow said the person Wicks was talking to in these messages asked if Wicks was after a debt collector and he told them he was already organising it and had “a few (people) that need a tune up bro”.

“So, you were engaging debt collectors and these people in the drug world visit violence upon other human beings, sometimes they kill them,” Justice Crow said.

The message where Wicks told King Teflon 2.0 that he could finance eight to 10 ounces per fortnight “clearly shows your intention was to increase dealing and to go up the food train and drug dealing”, Justice Crow said.

Luke Wicks has been convicted of trafficking drugs in the Central Highlands region.

The court heard Wicks told police he had trafficked drugs “to take the financial stress off his shoulders”.

Born and raised in Bendigo, had an impressive work history after leaving school at the end of year 10 and completing an apprenticeship as a boilermaker.

He worked in Melbourne for eight to 10 years in the industry before relocating to Queensland in 2017 to work in the mines for Golding Contractors until he had to take leave without pay in 2022 due to three bulging discs in his spine.

Justice Crow said Wicks was then travelling and between that and the loss of wages, and the sporadic use of drugs, it all motivated this offending.

Wicks pleaded guilty to one count each of trafficking drugs, burglary by break at night with violence, robbery in company, assault occasioning bodily harm, possessing more than two grams of a schedule one drug and possessing a thing used in trafficking drugs.

He was sentenced to nine years in jail with 66 days presentence custody declared as time served, and parole eligibility set for August 12, 2027.

Another member of the ring, Nyah Ann Spence, was convicted of drug trafficking at Blackwater, Emerald and Bluff.

She was sentenced in December last year to three years in jail but allowed immediate parole.

Miss Spannagle is due back in court on March 24.

Originally published as Luke Craig Wicks jailed for trafficking meth, dognapping dachshunds