Rock Ahmad jailed for 15 years over international drug smuggling plot
Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad and ex-Lone Wolf member Hassan Fakhreddine were sentenced on Monday after pleading guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of MDMA in 2017.
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The brother of Sydney’s Mr Big, Wally Ahmad, and a former bikie have been jailed for more than 13 years over their roles in an international drug smuggling plot.
Ahmad “Rock” Ahmad, 45, of Bankstown, and ex-Lone Wolf member Hassan Fakhreddine, 39, of Arncliffe, appeared in Downing Centre District Court on Monday after pleading guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of MDMA in 2017.
The court was told an undercover police officer had won the trust of higher-ranking members in the syndicate including underworld figure Michael Ibrahim and said he could help facilitate the importation of illegal goods into Australia undetected.
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Before becoming involved in the ring, Ahmad’s mental health had spiralled and he had been forced to take on the debts of his brother Wally Ahmad after he was gunned down in broad daylight in Bankstown in 2016, the court heard.
After the shooting, he struggled to find work as a debt collector or in the building industry after widespread media coverage and began to use cocaine daily.
Judge Dina Yehia SC told the court police also took out a firearm prohibition order on Ahmad and conducted 37 searches between April 2016 and July 2017, further increasing his anxiety as he became involved in the drug plot.
“The murder of his brother … was a major trauma for the offender and his family,“ the judge said.
“While I‘m not persuaded authorities were using the firearm prohibition orders to harass. … I am satisfied he felt harassed and that it impacted him adversely.
“The offender’s brother had accumulated $100,000 in debt, Ahmad became responsible to his debt.”
Ahmad and Fakhreddine had low-ranking roles in the plot to import large amounts of MDMA and cocaine into Australia before police swooped arrested the two and other multiple members in August 2017, the court heard.
Ibrahim, the brother of Kings Cross identity John, was arrested in Dubai and more than $5.4 million was seized by authorities.
The court was told Ahmad had grown up in a big Lebanese family in Punchbowl and was raised by his father who taught his sons how to fight. However, Judge Yehia said he did not have a history of drug offences unlike his co-offender Fakhreddine.
He has been placed in an area of Goulburn jail called “the Lebanese yard” by staff and has been housed in onerous conditions because of his classification as a high security inmate, Judge Yehia said.
Ahmad was sentenced to 15 years jail and two months with a non-parole period of 8 years and nine months.
Fakhreddine was sentenced to 13 years and seven months jail with a non-parole period of eight years.
Ibrahim, who claimed he was a victim of police entrapment, was sentenced to 30 years jail for his role in the ring after conspiring to import nearly two tonnes of MDMA, 136 kilograms of cocaine and 15kg of ice into the country.
Ibrahim’s businessman brother John is not accused of any wrongdoing.