Dooralong: Malcolm Thomas Mote sentenced for trying to smuggle 3kg of cocaine to QLD

A wannabe special forces soldier who almost drowned trying out for the SAS has been sentenced for trying to smuggle 3kg of cocaine worth about $750,000 to Queensland.

Malcolm Thomas Mote, of Dooralong, outside Wyong Local Court before he pleaded guilty to supplying 3kg of cocaine. Picture: NewsLocal

A 39-year-old Central Coast man who bombed out of special forces selection four times — one of which he nearly drowned — has been sentenced for trying to smuggle almost $750,000 worth of cocaine to Queensland.

Malcolm Thomas Mote, of Dooralong, faced Gosford District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of prohibited drugs and dealing with goods suspected of being unlawfully obtained.

The former Australian Army soldier, who served in a peacekeeping tour of East Timor, before flunking selection into the Special Air Services (SAS) four times was sentenced to an intensive correction order (ICO) for three years.

An agreed set of facts states officers attached to Strike Force Raptor began to suspect Mote was involved in the supply of prohibited drugs to Queensland in May 2022 year and set about bugging his white LDV work van.

He was seen driving the van in Tweed and Burleigh Heads on May 23, 2022, before returning to his Mannering Park address on Harwood Cl the following day.

Mote, of Dooralong, was sentenced to an ICO. Picture: Facebook

Later that morning Mote was seen to visit three properties in Fairfield West in Sydney.

Police raided two of the Fairfield West properties and seized 11.6kg of MDMA and nearly half a kilogram each of cocaine and methamphetamine.

However the facts state police could not prove Mote knowingly took part in the supply of drugs on May 23 or 24.

Mote nearly drowned trying out for the SAS. His military career took a dive after that. Picture: NewsLocal

Two months later on July 11 Raptor police observed Mote leave his Mannering Park address and travelled north.

He was stopped on the M1 motorway at Twelve Mile Creek and told police he was on his way to inspect property he and his girlfriend were looking to purchase inland of the Gold Coast.

Police searched the van but couldn’t find anything until they discovered a false floor under the carpet and a “hidden compartment” behind the front two seats.

“The storage compartment was screwed shut with a rectangular lid,” the facts state.

“One side of the lid had a hinge, and the other three sides were screwed down. The officers unscrewed the rectangle lid which revealed a hidden compartment.”

Inside the compartment was a plastic Aldi shopping bag containing three blocks of cocaine — weighing a total of 3.09kg — individually sealed in clear plastic with the word “block” written in back marker.

Mote was arrested but denied any knowledge of the cocaine.

While he was in custody police searched his Harwood Cl address and found $15,000 in cash on the top shelf of a wardrobe in $100 notes.

Mote’s DNA was later found inside the hidden compartment.

The court heard Mote became a roofing subcontractor after leaving the army but fell into cocaine addiction through an ex-girlfriend.

Mote gave evidence at his sentencing hearing, telling the court he was struggling to afford the mortgage on a $2.5 million property he purchased with his new girlfriend, which he was hiding his cocaine addiction — and a $20,000 drug debt — from.

Judge David Wilson said despite it being “a substantial amount of cocaine worth a considerable amount of money” he found Mote’s subjective circumstances compelling.

Judge Wilson found Mote was just a drug mule and unlikely to reoffend.

Conditions of his ICO include 12 months of home detention and that he remain abstinent from illicit drugs and alcohol for three years.