Canberra man stashed 1kg of ice in spare tyre to pay off gambling debts, court hears

Canberra man Suliman Negah had racked up significant debts from gambling when he agreed to act as a courier for 1kg of methylamphetamine found hidden in car’s spare tyre

The 1kg of meth found in the spare tyre was the equivalent of taking 10,000 hits of the drug off Canberra streets. Picture: ACT Policing

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A Canberra man who stashed 1kg of the drug ice in a spare tyre was acting as a “courier” to pay off “a significant debt” he had racked up gambling, a court heard.

During a sentencing hearing at ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, prosecutor Elizabeth Wren said Suliman Negah was “in a dire financial situation” when police found the drugs in the spare wheel well of his car on December 21, 2018.

Suliman Negah had significant debts when he agreed to act as a courier.

At the time of the 28-year-old’s arrest, police said the significant haul had a street value of up to $750,000 and was the equivalent of removing 10,000 “hits” of the drug from Canberra’s streets.

Ms Wren said Negah, of O’Connor, was looking at “debt relief” options online and had a “significant history of gambling addiction” when he agreed to act as a courier in a drug trafficking organisation

“In light of his dire financial situation, I would be satisfied the offence was committed for financial advantage,” she said.

Police estimated the street value of the drugs up to $750,000.

Defence lawyer Helen Hayung told the court Negah’s role in the organisation “was at a lower level and unsophisticated” and that he wouldn’t have had money to buy the drugs himself.

She said there was nothing to suggest he was involved at a “higher level in the chain”.

Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson adjourned Negah’s sentencing date to August 30 and described gambling as a “scourge of modern society”.

“He’s still a relatively young man in his twenties and one does hope he will rehabilitate himself,” she said.

Negah has pleaded guilty to trafficking methylamphetamine.