Sumin Jo: Korean gig worker on student visa caught in eastern suburbs dial-a-dealer cocaine bust

A 32-year-old Korean man who has been living in Australia for eight years on a student visa and working gig jobs was convicted after being caught in a Double Bay dial-a-dealer scheme.

A court heard a Korean man working gig jobs - including as a delivery driver and kitchen hand - thought a lucrative new delivery job opportunity seemed “too good to be true” as he faced charges of drug trafficking at Waverley Local Court.

Sumin Jo, 32, pleaded guilty to possessing and supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of a crime after he was caught selling cocaine on the streets of the upmarket suburb of Double Bay in the early hours of the evening on April 2, 2022.

The Korean man had been living in Australia for eight years on a student visa, the court heard, but had not learned English because he did not have time after working in jobs including as a delivery rider and a kitchen hand.

Jo used an interpreter to tell the court he was “very sorry for the burden” he placed on NSW and Australia by becoming embroiled in a dial-a-dealer scheme.

“This job was in many ways too good to be true,” the interpreter told the court on Jo’s behalf.

He had applied for the supposed delivery job during the Covid pandemic lockdowns not knowing what he would be delivering was drugs, the court heard.

However when he discovered the nature of the operation, he continued to work in the supply of drugs through the organisation.

Sumin Jo outside Waverley Local Court.

“I started doing it without knowing what was involved.

“When I understood what was involved, I continued,” Jo told the court.

On Saturday April 2 at around 6.30pm police observed a man known to the police in the area clutching his mobile phone and scanning Cooper Street in Double Bay for a vehicle in a “hyper vigilant manner”, according to the facts.

Court documents tendered to Waverley Local Court show the Eastern Suburbs Proactive Crime Team was conducting an operation targeting drug driving in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney.

The team had a particular focus on drug supply arrangements where instructions are sent via phone messages to the customer from a third party, ‘controller’, the documents state.

The police’s suspicions were raised when the man entered and quickly left a silver Nissan X-Trail within minutes, leading them to stop and search the man and the vehicle.

Police seized a small bag containing 0.9g of cocaine from the man.

The facts show they then searched the car, finding a small wallet inside the centre console containing two resealable bags filled with 2.1g of cocaine as well as two $100 notes and 32 $50 notes totalling $1800.

The police arrested Jo and explained the reasons why in detail, as he initially told them he did not understand what they were telling him.

However when questioned Jo told the police the white powder found in the car was cocaine and that he knew it was a prohibited drug in NSW.

Police also viewed text messages on Jo’s personal mobile phone which showed addresses and phone numbers sent from the ‘controller’ telling him where to meet the ‘buyers’.

Magistrate Hudson convicted Jo of possessing and supplying a prohibited drug and dealing with the proceeds of a crime and sentenced him to a fine of a combined $3050.

The Magistrate told the court the student, who said he wished to return to Korea once convicted, was part of a wider problem of drug supply across the Eastern Suburbs.

“He’s a cog in a wheel in terms of what’s happening here,” Mr Hudson said.