Blue Haven: Brenden Hawthorn pleads guilty to drug driving, crash and importing GHB/GBL and guns

An unemployed man, who lived with his mum, has pleaded guilty to using bitcoin to import thousands of dollars worth of guns and drugs after crashing on the M1 while high on liquid ecstasy.

Brenden Hawthorn, 27, of Blue Haven, was found with 5.2L of GHB and a gel blaster pistol on the floor of his Nissan Skyline after crashing on the M1 motorway on October 30, 2020. Picture: supplied

A man made nearly half a million dollars worth of bitcoin by selling drugs and firearms he illegally imported from overseas, a court has heard.

Appearing via video link Brenden Hawthorn, 27, of Blue Haven, faced Wyong Local Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to more than 25 drugs, weapons and driving offences.

The court heard Hawthorn came under notice of police when he crashed his Nissan Skyline into a side rail of the M1 motorway just south of the twin service stations on October 30, 2020.

Hawthorn crashed just south of the twin service stations on the M1. Picture: Google

A set of agreed facts states police arrived and saw he looked flushed, had watery eyes, enlarged pupils, a clammy forehead and his hands were “shaky”.

When police asked for his licence they saw what “appeared to be a black metal handgun on the floor of the vehicle”.

Officers also noted his speech was slow and slurred, so when he returned a negative result for alcohol they took him to Wyong Hospital where blood tests revealed he was under the effects of gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) to the point where his “driving was impaired”.

He told police he had taken GHB — also known as liquid ecstasy — and Xanax the night before.

Police saw what appeared to be a metal pistol on the floor of his Nissan Skyline after the crash. Picture: supplied

Hawthorn told police the handgun was a gel blaster he had bought for $400 from eBay and he had it with him because he was “meeting someone who he does not know for the purpose of selling the GHB contained in his car”.

Police searched the car and found a Guuchi satchel bag on the front seat containing 31g of GHB and syringes.

They also found a box with orange `Fragile’ tape wrapped around canisters in the foot well of the passenger seat containing a total of 5.2kg of GHB.

Police also found 5.2kg of GHB ain the foot well of his Nissan Skyline after crashing on the M1 motorway on October 30, 2020. Picture: supplied

Police also found a set of knuckle dusters in a compartment under the steering wheel.

Hawthorn told police he purchased the GHB online from China for $700 and was driving to Sydney to sell it to a man for $5000.

After the crash police got a warrant to search Hawthorn’s home on Barwon Close, Blue Haven, where he lived with his mother.

The facts state during the search officers seized seven vials of steroids, a further eight vials of testosterone, along with human growth hormone, two mobile phones and two shotgun rounds in a dresser in his bedroom.

Police also seized a double barrel sawn off shotgun in a backpack in his bedroom and another single barrel shotgun, a laptop, Express Post bags, various shotgun rounds in a green military style ammunition box, an extendible baton and a gel blaster.

Officers also found $9816.88 worth of gold bullion.

Hawthorn was found to have nearly $10K worth of gold bullion. (File image)

Hawthorn’s mother told police her son had been getting packages delivered in his name or the name “Brendan Muller” almost fortnightly for the past seven years.

“When she asked him about them he would be rude and tell her to `mind her own f..king business’ so she stopped asking him about them,” the facts state.

“She tells police she never went in his room and he would speak to her through the door. She also tells police that the offender has a separate internet connection to the house.”

Less than a week after the crash another package arrived and Hawthorn’s mother called police because “she was concerned that the package felt like the shape of a gun”.

Police opened it and found a fake Glock pistol.

Hawthorn used cryptocurrency to import drugs and weapons. (Photo by Justin TALLIS / AFP)

Further checks discovered Australian Border Force officers had intercepted several parcels addressed to Hawthorn’s Blue Haven residence since 2018 including a “BB gun” from Japan, a box of 10 knuckledusters, 1.64kg of GHB in 2018 and 23.38kg of GBL in 2019.

In a recorded interview Hawthorn admitted to police he had imported the drugs from China using Australian cryptocurrency CoinJar and “always paid using cryptocurrency”.

“He admitted this was not the first time he was onselling drugs which he had imported,” the facts state.

“He said that he did not have to sell that frequently as each sale was lucrative for him. He estimated having imported about 10L to 15L of GBL in the past year.

“He would ordinarily try to sell the drug straight away once it was delivered in the mail as he didn’t like having it in his mother’s house.”

Hawthorn pleaded guilty in Wyong Local Court on Tuesday. Picture: file

Hawthorn told police he began importing the drugs from China when he quit his job a year or two ago and needed a way to make money.

During the interview he admitted to importing firearms from Japan but said the gel blasters were purchased from Queensland and he had found one of the sawn off shotguns by the side of the road about a year and a half ago.

Analysis of his accounts found he had deposits in his account of more $475,000 in the 12 months to September 2020 in addition to the $7,000 he received in Centrelink benefits in the same period.

Records showed he had withdrawn $87,509 in cash from ATMs.

Hawthorn was adjourned to face Gosford District Court on November 17 to set a date for sentence.