Lawrance Zarb: Liverpool man sentenced for drug supply, firearm possession

The lure of “easy money” combined with a longstanding drug addiction saw a Liverpool man jailed for his key role as an “upline supplier” of a drug supply network.

The lure of “easy money” combined with a longstanding drug addiction saw a Liverpool man jailed for his key role as an “upline supplier” of a drug supply network.

Lawrance Zarb, 41, was sentenced to four years jail in Sydney District Court on Wednesday for selling drugs, including heroin and methylamphetamine, in early 2020.

The unsophisticated operation saw arrangements often made over text message using euphemisms before the transaction took place, sometimes at Zarb’s Liverpool unit.

“It wasn’t a complex operation. It was simply a matter of ringing the person who had drugs and supplying them to the people who wanted them,” Judge Penelope Wass SC said.

“He took the view at the time he was making easy money from willing consumers”,

On one occasion Zarb sold one ounce of heroin, or 28g, for $6400.

Zarb was sentenced to four years jail (generic image).

When police raided his Liverpool unit where the drugs were stored, three air pistols were located which the court heard were indistinguishable from a genuine firearm and in Zarb’s possession for his protection.

The court heard Zarb, who at the time had a $500 a week drug habit, was part of a drug supply network of like-minded people, with no clear roles of sophistication.

“(When the home was searched) police located drugs and paraphernalia … and messages that weren’t encrypted and, in some instances, hadn’t been deleted,” Judge Wass said.

The court heard there appeared to be little financial gain across the period Zarb took part in the criminal enterprise, despite the 41-year-old claiming he was making $3000 a day in a sentence assessment report.

The Liverpool man’s criminal history included offences of violence and dishonesty.

Zarb was convicted of drug supply, dealing with the property proceeds of crime and firearm possession and sentenced to four years jail, with a non-parole period of two years.

He will be eligible for release on parole in July next year.