Illawarra drug dealers: The stories of convicted Illawarra dealers revealed
From dealers who were caught through pig Latin text messages to others busted because of selfies, here’s a list of Illawarra drug dealers who faced the music in court last year.
Illawarra Star
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From dealers who were busted through bad selfies to others caught by pig-Latin text messages, the Illawarra Star has ousted a number of suppliers who were found guilty in court last year. Here are some of the most shocking cases.
CODI BURKE
Glamorous young mum Codi Bruke escaped a full-time jail sentence last year, after text messages using pig Latin slang revealed she had been involved in the supply of drugs allegedly sold out of Illawarra hotel rooms.
Burke, 29, was arrested in January last year, after police from the Wollongong Drug Unit found she was doing dirty work for Roberto Losco, who set up a methamphetamine supply shop in hotels across the region.
Burke was charged with supplying a small quantity of a prohibited drug after a text message chain revealed in early January that she had supplied Losco with 52 Buprenorphine strips.
In September last year, she was sentenced to a 13-month prison sentence to be served in the community by way of Intensive Corrections Order.
JOSHUA KEMPER
A young Illawarra man who was caught selling MDMA by Strike Force Raptor officers escaped a full-time jail sentence last year.
Kemper, 21, was charged with supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug in May last year, after police found him with 50 MDMA caps near a Wollongong nightclub during a night out.
During a search on the 21-year-old, police found four resealable bags each containing 10 capsules of brown granules in Kemper’s back pocket and another 10 capsules in another resealable bag in his front pocket.
Police also found $450 in Kemper’s wallet, before the 21-year-old admitted to police that the capsules were “MDMA caps”.
Last September, Kemper was sentenced to one year imprisonment to be served by way of an intensive corrections order which included 200 hours of community service.
WASSIM BAYDOUN
An Illawarra barber turned reiki healer was sentenced to at least nine months behind bars, after a selfie with his cousin revealed the pair were involved in the supply of illegal drugs in the Illawarra.
Wassim Baydoun was charged with drug supply involving 33 grams of methamphetamine and concealing a serious offence in 2016, almost a year after police executed a search warrant at a North Wollongong apartment and charged his cousin Ali Ibrahim with large commercial drug supply.
During the search, police located drugs stashed in gardens around the apartment block in garden beds and PVC pipes, and also seized Ibrahim’s mobile phone, which uncovered a key piece of evidence tying Baydoun to the crimes.
Police found pictures of the two men together, as well as Baydoun by himself, posing with the drugs hidden in plain view in the background of the photos.
During the investigation, police also lifted fingerprints from the drugs found stashed around the apartment block, which matched both Baydoun and Ibrahim.
Ibrahim subsequently pleaded guilty to large commercial drug supply charges, and was jailed for three and a half years in 2017.
In September, Baydoun was sentenced to a non-parole period of nine months jail which expired later that month given time already served.
FADI EL JAMAL
Calderwood dad Fadi El Jamal was sentenced to at least nine years in prison last May, after working as part of an organised criminal network responsible for the attempted importation of more than $1 million worth of cocaine and methamphetamine.
El Jamal was arrested more than three years ago at Sydney Airport on March 31, 2016, while trying to flee the country, just hours after he learnt there was a warrant out for his arrest.
The arrest followed a long investigation into a drug importation syndicate by both Australian and international police, and as a result, he was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully controlled drugs.
He was sentenced in the NSW District Court last May, where he was handed a 14-year jail term, with a non-parole period of nine years and eight months.