Linda Ta to be sentenced for commercial drug supply after being caught with nearly 300g of ice at Windale
A woman who was delivering nearly 300 grams of ice to Lake Macquarie had a novel excuse when she was first pulled over by police. It didn’t work.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
When Linda Ta was pulled over by police after driving from Sydney to Lake Macquarie in what must have appeared a random stop for the Sydneysider, she had an excuse ready to go.
Eyeing off rods and other equipment strewn through the Toyota Yaris Ta was driving, an officer asked her what brought her to the working class suburb of Windale.
“Oh I just came up here to go fishing,” she said.
But the cop didn’t buy it.
“You’re going fishing in Windale,” he asked the 33-year-old.
Ta replied: “Oh no, I got a bit lost.”
The ruse was up. She didn’t know it then, but police had already tracked her travelling from the Sydney central business district to Lake Macquarie on the morning of May 18 last year.
They also knew she had told a Windale man via a text message that she was on her way.
And it wasn’t the fishing gear she was bringing, but almost 300 grams of methylamphetamine hidden in a pencil case in her car.
Ta, from Glebe in Sydney’s inner-west, has been committed for sentence in Newcastle District Court after pleading guilty on Wednesday to supplying a commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, commonly known as ice.
There were 10 heat-sealed bags containing just short of one ounce each.
A total of 271.73 grams of ice were contained in that pencil case, while a further 7.18 grams and a glass pipe were found in a smaller bag.
That was for Ta’s personal use.
All of it was found within a shopping bag hidden amid the fishing gear behind the driver’s seat of the Toyota.
Ta briefly faced Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday where she was committed for sentence in the higher court.
She remains on bail and has also pleaded guilty to disqualified driving.
A sentencing date will be sought when she faces Newcastle District Court on May 5.
Named: Man allegedly sexually assaulted girls as young as 2
Sex crime detectives have credited advances in technology for the arrest of a man who allegedly sexually assaulted five children more than a decade ago. See the arrest.
Driver miraculously escapes after car smashes into Sydney home
A driver has miraculously escaped with only minor injuries after an SUV crashed into a home in Kellyville, causing significant structural damage and prompting a specialist rescue response.