Operation Ironside: Luke Andreou appeals jail sentence for drug, weapons offences after AN0M bust

A Comanchero bikie associate busted with nearly $300,000 of dirty cash, as well as illegal weapons, drugs and NSW Police paraphernalia has attempted to have his prison sentence slashed.

Luke Anderou tried to appeal the length of his jail sentence. Picture: Facebook

A Comanchero bikie associate busted with nearly $300,000 of dirty cash, as well as illegal weapons, drugs and NSW Police paraphernalia has failed in his bid to have his prison sentence slashed.

The Australian Federal Police busted Luke Andreou in June 2021 as part of the high-profile Operation Ironside AN0M sting with officers seizing gel blasters, fireworks, prohibited drugs, wads of cash, and $55,000 worth of gold and silver from his Horsley home in the Illawarra.

A NSW Police cap and vest were also seized from his home with police finding a phone logged into the encrypted FBI-created AN0M messaging service.

Andreou, 33, was sentenced to five years jail at Wollongong District Court in September, 2022, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime, two counts of drug possession, two counts of possessing a prohibited firearm, two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing police wear, supplying an indictable quantity of a prohibited drug and supplying a prohibited firearm.

A three year non-parole period was also set, with Andreou eligible for release in September, 2025.

More than $230,000 in cash was seized.

NSW Police gear seized in the raid.

Documents tendered in court reveal investigators scoured through Andreou’s AN0M account on his arrest and found images he sent to an associate with the codename “Icebox” in June 2020, of the NSW Police cap as well as a high-vis vest, two epaulets and two shoulder patches.

Messages were also uncovered with someone nicknamed “Rumpy” from March and April last year regarding the $25,000 sale of a pump-action shotgun.

The duo agreed to test out the firearm “at the back or Horsley or near Kembla Grange” with Rumpy seemingly impressed by its power.

The whereabouts of the pump-action shotgun and the real identity of Rumpy remain unknown.

In the NSW Supreme Court this month, Andreou’s legal team submitted jail time was “manifestly excessive” and a non-custodial sentence was an appropriate outcome.

One of the appeal judges questioned the application, saying the most serious offence – being the supply of the pump-action shotgun – received a prison sentence of three years and three months.

Despite the appeal judge saying “favourable findings” were made for Andreou at the time of sentencing, Andreou‘s barrister said given he had no criminal record, Andreou was handed a “very significant penalty’ ’.

Crown prosecutor Victoria Garrity opposed the appeal, saying the judge’s sentence was not unreasonable.

The judges handed down their decision on Monday, dismissing the appeal and stating “the aggregate sentence imposed was not manifestly excessive”.

“The creation of offences with heavily deterrent maximum sentences and standard non-parole periods is plainly intended to prevent prohibited firearms falling into the hands of criminals,” the judges said regarding the most serious charges.

“[Those criminals] would degrade the peace and order of the community by using them in furtherance of other criminal activities, including drug distribution and robbery. The applicant’s offence fully engaged those considerations.

“It attracted the imposition of a sentence that would involve significant general deterrence.”