Shanese Koullias jailed over ‘crucial role’ in $17M dark web drug syndicate

Suburban nurse Shanese Koullias was one of the major players behind one of Australia’s largest and most sophisticated dark web drug supply enterprises. So, how did she do it?

A court has heard a former aged care nursing assistant’s addiction to prescription drugs likely saw her become involved in what has been described as one of Australia’s largest and most sophisticated dark web drug enterprises.

Judge Robyn Tupman sentenced Shanese Koullias, 24, of Callala Bay to eight years in prison with a non-parole period of five years in the Downing Centre District Court on Friday, meaning with time served she would be released in 2024.

Koullias pleaded guilty to three counts of supplying a prohibited drug greater than a large commercial quantity last year.

Shanese Koullias has been sentenced for her role in a multimillion dollar dark web drug syndicate. Picture: Facebook

One of the charges included the packaging of over 100,000 LSD tabs, as well as 760 grams of MDMA and almost 1.5 kilograms of amphetamines.

The court heard Koullias was also involved in supplying smaller amounts of cocaine, DMT, Oxycodone, methylone and alprazolam.

She was arrested following a police operation in February, 2018, alongside her 22-year-old sister Patricia Koullias, of Quakers Hill, who was sentenced to three years in prison in December.

The court heard, the syndicate’s mastermind Cody Ward, 25, of Callala Beach, who will be sentenced on February 19, used the privacy and anonymity of the dark web to make $17 million from thousands of illegal drug sales.

Sisters Patricia and Shanese Koullias have now both been sentenced for their role in the syndicate. Picture: Facebook

Judge Tupman told the court Koullias “was not only following orders” from Ward, but played a “crucial role” in the enterprise, and had likely become involved due to her use of the prescription drugs Xanax and Valium.

The court heard in the lead up to her arrest and her termination from her aged care job, Koullias was dosing her water bottle with Valium after two suicide attempts following the break down of her relationship with her boyfriend.

The court heard Ward, using his dark web vendor name ‘NSWGreat’, even boasted to the media of his ability to import drugs from overseas before distributing them across the south coast.

Koullias’s role in the enterprise was to package and post the orders, later recruiting her sister to help in the month before their arrests.

Syndicate mastermind Cody Ward will be sentenced on February 19. Picture: Instagram

Judge Tupman told the court Koullias would also warehouse “significant” amounts of drugs for later sale, and was a “trusted position in the enterprise”.

The court heard Koullios was paid by Ward in cash, and the total amount of money she made during the “highly sophisticated” operation remains unknown.

Judge Tupman told the court Koullias had faced a dysfunctional upbringing, with an aggressive alcoholic father who one night returned home with a knife, causing her mother to flee to Nowra.

She told the court at 15-years-old Koullias had helped her father while he was overdosing as her mother looked on.

Judge Tupman said Koullios’ “depressive disorder” played no role in her offending, and her role was predominantly for financial gain.

She backdated the sentence to February, 2019, meaning she will be eligible for parole on February 13, 2024.