Richard Troy Lightfoot was a just a courier despite 4kg of MDMA, 1kg of coke seized by police

A man stopped with 4kg of MDMA, 1kg of cocaine and $101,000 cash in a secret compartment in his car was “a runner” who agreed to courier drugs to wipe a debt, a court has heard.

Richard Lightfoot at a previous court appearance charged with drug supply offences. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

A northern beaches man who was stopped by police investigating an international drug supply syndicate was “just a runner” and not a key figure in the operation, a court has heard.

Richard Troy Lightfoot, of Beacon Hill, took the witness stand at his sentencing submissions on Thursday where he told the NSW District Court he was a cocaine user who had wracked up a $10,000 debt with his supplier.

He told the court he took a couple of days to consider an offer by his drug dealer to courier “parcels” and collect money he “assumed” involved the supply of drugs to drive down his debt.

“I just wanted to get more drugs and get my debt down,” he said.

“I didn’t think how it would affect anyone else.”

Richard Lightfoot arriving at a previous court appearance. (AAP Image/Sue Graham)

The court heard Lightfoot was given an encrypted phone and a Toyota Rav 4, which had a secret compartment built into the floor in the back seat.

Lightfoot told the court he only ever spoke directly to his “dealer” who also provided “detailed instructions” on how to use the secret compartment to store drugs and cash he delivered to Newcastle, Tuggerah on the Central Coast and “all over Sydney”.

The secret compartment in the floor of the Rav 4 containing 1kg of cocaine, 4kg of MDMA and $101,000 cash. Picture: NSW Police

He said he was also given the PIN codes to open parcel lockers at Chatswood used as drop boxes for the exchange of drugs and cash.

Lightfoot said he generally used gloves but told the court he opened two plastic bags, which were found to have his fingerprints and DNA on them, to “use the cocaine” inside.

His barrister told the court Lightfoot was an honest witness who’s role was “at the bottom” of the organisation despite the “sophistication” of the syndicate, which had provided him the vehicle and phone.

However the Crown prosecutor argued Lightfoot, who has pleaded guilty to five drug supply offences and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime, was ‘at the middle of the range” of objective seriousness.

The court heard there was “at least one person” between Lightfoot and one of the kingpins of the operation in former Penrith rugby league player Levi John Russell, of Terrigal.

Some of the drugs seized from Lightfoot’s car. Picture: NSW Police

Lightfoot at a previous court appearance.

Lightfoot was arrested about 12.40pm on June 4, 2019 at a car park on Wyong Rd, Mardi, where police seized 4kg of MDMA, 1kg of cocaine and $101,000 cash stashed in a hidden compartment in the car’s floor.

The MDMA had an estimated potential street value of $720,000, while the cocaine had an estimated potential street value of $300,000.

The secret compartment even had its own built in lighting.

Lightfoot’s arrest came after detectives from the State Crime Command’s Organised Crime Squad established Strike Force Gilbulla in September 2017 to investigate the importation and supply of methylamphetamine.

In August 2018 strike force detectives seized 16kg of the drug ice, concealed in packaging containing bearings, addressed to a business at Terrigal.

The drugs had an estimated street value of $8 million.

Following the seizure, police conducted six search warrants at properties in Berkeley Vale, Glenning Valley, Terrigal, Tuggerah and Wamberal.

Former Penrith NRL player Russell was arrested and later pleaded guilty to eight counts of importing hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine and the commercial supply of cocaine between 2017-19.

Former NRL player Levi Russell was sentenced over his central role in the drug importation syndicate. Picture: NSW Police

The 46-year-old was sentenced in the District Court last September, which heard key players in the syndicate rolled on Russell and gave statements to police after cooperating with prosecutors.

In a published judgment, District Court Judge Andrew Scotting detailed how between April and November 2017, Russell, who ran an earthmoving business called Russtrans, was part of a syndicate that imported more than 200kg of methamphetamine from Malaysia in compressor heads and machinery parts.

Judge Scotting sentenced Russell to a 16 years jail with a non-parole period of nine years. With time served, he will be eligible for parole in 2028.

On Thursday Judge Scotting, who is also presiding over Lightfoot, adjourned his sentence until March 31 and continued his bail.

The court heard Lightfoot expected to go to jail but had spent just eight nights in custody before being granted bail and had a surgery booked for March 3.