Gabriel Issa, Razija Adilovic: couple ran drug ring to pay medical bills
An engaged inner west couple started supplying drugs to their mates before their lucrative cocaine network expanded to ‘friends of friends of friends’ a court has heard.
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What started as a young couple dealing to friends escalated through word of mouth into a “small business” that fed an insatiable hunger for cocaine in Sydney’s north shore, a court has heard.
Recovering drug users Gabriel Issa and Razija ‘Rosa’ Adilovic, who were due to be married will instead be sentenced next week for running a Dial-A-Dealer syndicate that supplied 480g of the drug to exclusive suburb McMahons Point last year.
During a sentence hearing on Thursday, Adilovic told Judge Nicole Norman the couple turned to drug dealing to support their habits, pay back loans and foot thousands of dollars in medical bills for the “really ill” Issa.
Issa, 27, has pleaded guilty to supplying a commercial quantity of cocaine and directing a criminal group between January and March of 2019, while his fiancee, 26, admitted to commercial drug supply.
“Everyone knew Gabby and I were using and they asked us for drugs,” Adilovic told the District Court.
“They went from friends, to friends of friends, to friends of friends of friends.”
The couple have been behind bars since police raided their Campsie unit on March 15, 2019.
The court heard a Volkswagen sedan parked outside the inner west apartment was used as the pick-up point for the syndicate’s delivery drivers – allegedly including Issa’s younger brother Adam.
When police searched the car on the day of the arrests they found 68g of cocaine stashed inside. More than $16,000 in cash was found in a safe inside the flat.
Adilovic told the court Issa became seriously ill in late 2018. He was “coughing up blood” and experiencing respiratory issues that were later diagnosed as lesions on his lungs.
The fashion student estimated they had spent $30,000 to $40,000 on surgeries and treatment for his illness and addiction, funded by their drug operation.
They had first tried to establish legitimate businesses by starting a cleaning company and taking out a loan from Adilovic’s parents to buy Issa a $150,000 concrete pump – which she described as “our future”.
Issa organised the sourcing and supply of drugs from the unit before his partner took over “running” the syndicate when he admitted himself to the Northside Clinic for rehabilitation in February.
“It breaks my heart to know I could have done something to someone … killed them,” she told the court.
Defence lawyer Greg Gould argued the couple were merely dealing to support themselves after their businesses failed and were not living an “opulent” lifestyle.
Judge Norman said the venture itself was a “small business” one which they were “a lot more effective at”.
Their fate will be learned on April 7.