Kevin Theobald, Ray Dumbrell and Laurie Barkl jailed over failed $48m coke import plan

They already had the taste of jail life as youngsters. Now, three crooks have found themselves back behind bars, this time as senior citizens.

Kevin Theobald being arrested at his home in Condell Park. He will spend at least four years and six months behind bars. Picture: John Grainger

Three veterans of Sydney‘s underworld have been jailed for between six and eight years over their involvement in the attempted importation of up to $48 million worth of Columbian cocaine in a shipping consignment sent from Mexico.

Close friends Kevin Theobald, 63, Raymond Dumbrell, 74, Laurie Barkl, 61, each pleaded guilty to a commercial drug importation charge after police established their involvement in a sophisticated, international drug smuggling cartel.

The trio has long had an association with Sydney’s murky underbelly - Theobald was allegedly a key figure in the infamous gang wars of the 1980s and served time for drug supply, while Dumbrell was jailed for 13 years in 1997 for importing cannabis.

Barkl was sentenced to periodic detention in the late 1980s for heroin and firearm offences.

However, all three had been leading law-abiding lives in their senior years, until this most recent offence, their lawyers told Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.

A police surveillance picture of Ray Dumbrell and Kevin Theobald.

A set of agreed facts tendered to the court said Australian Border Force officials raided an incoming shipment of goods in February 2019 and discovered a total of 188kg of cocaine concealed in the products.

The drug was later tested by police, who established its origin as Columbian. The total wholesale value of the coke was estimated to be between $35 million and $48 million.

The court heard the cocaine was removed from the shipment and the goods repacked, with police concealing listening devices in the products before the consignment was delivered to its intended destination - a warehouse in Bankstown.

A police surveillance photo of Laurie Barkl.

Theobald, Dumbrell and Barkl attended the property over the coming days and attempted to remove the (now non-existent) cocaine on at least three occasions, however were unable to locate it.

At one stage, the listening devices recorded Theobald saying “ mate, 40 f — king million” and “40 million down the drain”.

Kevin Theobald is loaded into a police paddy wagon following his arrest. Picture: John Grainger

The trio was arrested on March 30 last year and have been behind bars ever since.

In court on Wednesday, Judge Andrew Scotting said there was a dispute between the parties over the role the trio played in the criminal group: prosecutors alleged the men were the ringleaders of the Sydney operation, however lawyers for each of the friends claimed they were simply pawns in a bigger game and had been sent in as “stooges” on a “suicide mission” to recover the coke.

The court heard Theobald allegedly told another man he stood to make “a couple of millions dollars” for efforts, however further evidence put the figure at approximately $20,000.

Judge Scotting said he was not satisfied the prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt the trio were the principals in the Australian operation.

He sentenced Barkl and Dumbrell to six years and seven years jail respectively, about half of which are non-parole periods.

With time served, they will be eligible for release on parole in 2024.

Theobald was sentenced to eight years jail, with a non-parole period of four months, after he also pleaded guilty to another drug importation charge from December 2020.

Theobald will be eligible to apply for parole in 2025 after serving a non-parole period of four-and-a-half years.