Exposed: Queensland MDMA and party drug dealers who have faced court
Hidden phone taps, drugs stashed in barbecues and anonymous packages sent through the post, these are some of the stories that landed Queensland’s notable party drug dealers in court.
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The rise of drug dealers using Snapchat to sell MDMA was one of the surprise findings from court cases involving the drug in 2022.
Police said the pandemic had affected international supplies of the drug, also known as ecstasy, but that still did not stop dealers and suppliers being hauled before the courts and thousands of pills taken off the streets.
Hidden phone taps, secret text messages, and imported barbecues loaded with MDMA stashes were some of the intriguing stories courts were told during the year.
Ecstasy, caps, pills, pingers, E, M&M, molly, or MDMA, the long arm of the law caught up with those busted supplying the drug whose scientific name is 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine.
Criminal law firm Armstrong Legal said supplying MDMA to a child aged under 16, carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment; aggravated supply, 25 years; and supply in any other case, 20 years.
Here are some of the cases involving MDMA that went before courts in 2022.
BRETT RAYMOND SMITH
Cairns drug trafficker Brett Raymond Smith, who was behind the wholesale procurement of large quantities of cocaine, meth and MDMA, came unstuck after a listening device was hidden at his father’s Yorkeys Knob apartment.
Brett Smith, the son of Glenn Raymond Smith, currently serving a nine-year jail term, was sentenced in the Cairns Supreme Court in December after pleading guilty to one count of trafficking dangerous drugs and one count of contravening an order to access information from a mobile phone that was used to organise drug deals.
Crown prosecutor Matt Hancock told the court a police raid on a Yorkeys Knob apartment uncovered an illicit drug mother lode, including 28 ounces of cocaine, nine ounces of meth and five ounces of MDMA.
Police intelligence suggested drugs were paid for with two separate $80,000 payments.
In sentencing Smith, Justice Jim Henry spoke of the misery brought by meth on users, their families and a community preyed upon by addicts needing to sustain their habits.
“And there is the well-known impact of (the drug) causing aggression and paranoia and inexplicable violence against innocent members of the community,” he said.
“I can’t understate the seriousness of the trafficking business you engaged with your father.”
Justice Henry sentenced Smith to seven-and-a-half years for trafficking, six months for refusing to provide phone passwords and 18 months for an unrelated grievous bodily harm charge.
The combined jail term totalled nine-and-a-half years and a parole eligibility date was set for March 19, 2024.
The younger Smith had already served 691 days after entering custody in January 2021.
JAMIE WILLIAM WILLIAMSON
Former drug kingpin Jamie William Williamson, sentenced to 13 years in jail for trafficking and possessing ecstasy, speed and marijuana in one of Queensland’s largest drug busts, is believed dead, a year after he was declared missing.
In November, police declared that Williamson was no longer a missing person.
He was 41 when he was last seen about 6.10pm on October 21, 2021, near an Adani (now called Bravus) work accommodation site between Clermont and Belyando in Central Queensland.
The former Toowoomba rugby league player, convicted of trafficking in 2010, had a Toowoomba-region drug business selling to wholesalers and street dealers between 2004 and 2006 before being arrested at Brisbane Airport in December 2006 while returning home from a luxury Hawaiian holiday.
Police had searched two storage sheds hired in Williamson’s name, uncovering $564,000, thousands of ecstasy tablets, 8kg of marijuana, 2kg of methylamphetamine and a stash of firearms, which led to his conviction.
A legal battle then played out in the Supreme Court for eight years with the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission successful in its bid to seize some of Williamson’s assets, including more than $86,000 made from sales of properties and fittings from his Sportsco Toowoomba store, and two vehicles.
Williamson was on parole in 2021 at the time he went missing in Central Queensland.
Police and the Australian Defence Force co-ordinated an extensive physical search covering 2000sq km from Townsville to Rockhampton.
A Coroners Court of Queensland spokesman said Williamson’s suspected death was under the investigation of Central Coroner Magistrate David O’Connell.
MARCUS OLIVER MUELLER
Townsville drug dealer Marcus Oliver Mueller, who bragged about enjoying “the high life”, was jailed in November after he was busted with more than 2000 MDMA pills and almost 60kg of cannabis.
Townsville Supreme Court heard Mueller, 25, was arrested on November 15, 2020 when police stopped a Holden Commodore Ute that he was a passenger in as it travelled to Townsville through Alligator Creek.
Mueller and his co-accused, already sentenced, were in possession of 59.8kg of cannabis, more than 2000 MDMA tablets, 33g of pure cocaine and a “substantial” amount of methylamphetamine, concealed in toolboxes and behind the seats of the car.
The value of the drugs located in Mueller’s possession were estimated to range from $800,000 to as much as $1.7 million if sold to an end user.
The court heard Mueller made at least five trips to Rockhampton and the Gold Coast to visit his cannabis supplier before he sold the drugs in Townsville.
Crown Prosecutor Monique Sheppard said Mueller enjoyed “the high life”, using cash to buy the ute he was intercepted in and had bought Louis Vuitton and other designer products.
He also “boasted” of spending $25,000 on a birthday weekend.
Judge David North sentenced Mueller to serve six years imprisonment.
He will be eligible for parole from November 28, 2024.
CONNOR HAMILTON McLEOD
Unemployed NDIS recipient Connor Hamilton McLeod pleaded guilty in Cairns Supreme Court in October to possessing and trafficking dangerous drugs after he was busted stashing a bag of MDMA in bushes near his home.
CCTV cameras showed McLeod, 27, stashing a bag in bushes and after police were called, he admitted the bag was his and it contained MDMA.
The court was told McLeod also told police during an interview that he would distribute one capsule that contained a point of MDMA for $25.
Crown prosecutor Seamus McManus said police found 121 clip seal bags holding one capsule each of MDMA, 29 clip seal bags with MDMA in crystal form, 200 empty clip seal bags, and a compressed block of MDMA weighing about 244g.
He said the overall substance weighed 283g with a drug analysis certificate showing 206g of MDMA was detected.
The court heard a text message from McLeod to a drug supplier said security guards at a popular Cairns nightclub also caught McLeod pushing drugs.
The court also heard that McLeod asked to be able to return the MDMA to the supplier, who gave an address for McLeod to hand back 56g.
Justice Jim Henry said McLeod’s early plea of guilty was significant in mitigating his punishment and he sentenced McLeod to three years’ imprisonment with an immediate parole release date.
LUKE HUMPHRIES
Jailed Gold Coast man Luke Humphries will appeal a 10-year jail sentence for attempting to traffic a commercial quantity of MDMA into Australia.
Humphries lodged his intention with the Court of Criminal Appeal after District Court judge Kara Shead sentenced him in September in the Downing Centre District Court.
Judge Shead said the jail term would start on December 16, 2019 and expire on December 15, 2029 with a non-parole period of six years.
Humphries will be eligible for parole on December 15, 2025. No sentence discount recorded and $84,350 seized from a Bondi Junction unit, where he was arrested in December 2019, was forfeited to the Commonwealth.
Humphries pleaded guilty in July in Downing Centre District Court to attempting to traffic a commercial quantity of MDMA into Australia.
The court heard he had to put in three days of hard work to unpack 623kg of MDMA hidden in barbecues in return for an “NBA-sized pay cheque”.
The court heard the 33-year-old had been tasked by a multinational crime syndicate to fly to Sydney, rent a warehouse at Smeaton Grange in southwest Sydney and dismantle 199 barbecues — which had 346 packages of MDMA concealed in hidden compartments.
Australian authorities found the drugs, which were 77 per cent pure, before Humphries and replaced them with a substance that looked like MDMA.
Police wired up the warehouse with CCTV and watched Humphries unpack the drugs.
The court also heard Humphries was to “dead drop” several kilos of the drug inside an empty apartment in Parramatta.
He hid a key inside a portable combination lock across the road that was used by other people picking up their shares of the haul.
Court documents showed the drug haul was loaded on to a ship at Port Limassol in Cyprus in June 2019 under the name of a Marrickville fashion company, and arrived in Port Botany in July 2019 with the barbecues in stacks of 10.
The MDMA was located on the bottom four barbecues of each stack and was hidden in a secret cavity in 110 of the cooking devices.
Humphries picked up Canadian man Laert Kasaj, 36, who travelled to Australia to oversee the MDMA operation and the pair travelled to the Smeaton Grange warehouse.
Kasaj was apprehended by police at Tangalooma Island Resort Ferry Terminal at Pinkenba in Queensland and Kasaj was charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of MDMA, which carries a maximum penalty of life in jail.
He was sentenced to a minimum of two years and seven months after the crown accepted arguments from his legal team that Kasaj was unaware of the extent of the smuggling plot until he arrived at the Smeaton Grange warehouse.
JOHN PIETER MANNEKEN
Townsville builder John Pieter Manneken’s underground MDMA trafficking exploits were laid bare in court after authorities intercepted parcels of the pills sent to him from overseas.
The Cranbrook man, 37, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years’ imprisonment in September after Townsville Supreme Court heard a 2020 police search of his home found 329 MDMA pills with an estimated street value of about $16,500.
He was found guilty of one count of trafficking in dangerous drugs and 13 counts of supplying dangerous drugs.
The court heard Manneken came to the attention of police after Australia Border Force officials detected parcels containing drugs being posted to him from overseas under false aliases.
The court heard he trafficked MDMA into the country over seven weeks from November to December 2020.
He organised for the drugs to be supplied to him from someone in Germany, and six parcels were sent, three of which were intercepted by the authorities.
Two parcels were intercepted, each containing about 100g of a substance containing MDMA, in Melbourne on December 4, 2020 and another parcel was intercepted containing about 100g of a substance containing MDMA in Brisbane on December 16, 2020.
Justice David North said it was reasonable to infer the other three parcels that weren’t intercepted probably contained similar quantities of MDMA.
The court heard Manneken had produced clear drug tests and was hoping to turn his life around.
Justice North ordered that convictions be recorded and a serious drug certificate be issued and suspended the sentence for 12 months.
TANEILLE ELISE MOORE
Taneille Elise Moore, 26, was sentenced to jail in the Supreme Court for trafficking cannabis and ecstasy.
The Central Queensland drug dealer used Snapchat and Facebook to service customers, frequently advertising “Cheap Tuesdays” and “Wheezy Wednesdays”.
She pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton in September to six drug-related charges, the most serious being trafficking, and possessing dangerous drugs in excess of 2g.
She was sentenced to three years’ prison with immediate release on parole.
The court heard she trafficked marijuana between September 2020 and June 2021 but 16 days before being busted by police, diversified to include trafficking MDMA ecstasy.
The Crown said the exact number of cannabis supplies was unknown due to Moore using the instant messaging app Snapchat to service customers but that she sold 98 MDMA tablets, making a profit of $3720.
The court heard Moore’s prices fluctuated with 1g-1.5g of cannabis being sold for $20, and one tablet of MDMA being sold for between $35 and $40.
Justice Graeme Crow said Moore’s business grew and from May, 2021, she moved to Snapchat, where she posted advertisements to her 243 friends and posted advertisements and pictures of her produce and price lists.
The court heard her expansion into MDMA was how Moore planned to pay for a holiday for her and her partner, the court heard.
SEPTEMBER: LUKE DEAN WALLACE
Cairns boilermaker Luke Dean Wallace was caught “red-handed” importing more than 800g of the party drug MDMA from Europe.
Wallace, 23, pleaded guilty to importing a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug and a number of other drug possession charges in the Cairns Supreme Court in September.
The court heard Wallace had been going out four or five times a week partying in 2019 when he ordered a significant amount of MDMA in both powder, crystalline and pill form.
Australian Border Force intercepted one package in Sydney in November 2019, which contained 499g of MDMA at a purity of 71.4 per cent, believed to have a street value of between $50,000 and $500,000.
The parcel was destined for a PO Box in Cairns under a fake name, the court heard.
Police from the Major Organised Crime Squad along with federal authorities seized a further three parcels containing 371.422g of MDMA with an average purity of 69.68 per cent, as well as 9g of cocaine.
To set up PO boxes around Cairns, Wallace used a fake student ID which detectives found hidden in a book in his room when they executed a search warrant.
The court heard Wallace, who had no prior criminal history, took the highly unusual step of handing himself over to prison authorities to begin serving his inevitable jail term just under a year before his sentencing.
Justice Jim Henry sentenced Wallace to a five-year prison term, with a parole eligibility date at 12 months, taking into account 307 days as time already served.
TARNAH DAVID JOSEPH PARATA-PLANT
Tarnah David Joseph Parata-Plant was upfront with police carrying out roadside licence checks and told them he had a stash of MDMA and other drugs.
The young drug courier’s honesty with police put him in a more serious position but it may also have saved him from serving actual jail time.
During a subsequent search of his car, Toowoomba police found 38g of cannabis, 2.61g of MDMA, 15 LSD tablets and two mobile phones, the PIN for which the defendant gave to police, Toowoomba Supreme Court heard.
Crown prosecutor Emily Coley told the court the phones contained messages of offers of drug supplies.
Parata-Plant told police he was being paid to pick-up and drop off the drugs and that he had three drops to make that night, the court heard.
At the end of the police record of the interview, Parata-Plant was asked if he had drugs at home and he said “Yes”.
A search of his home turned up another 85 LSD tablets, 176g of cannabis and more MDMA, the court heard.
He told police the drugs were a way to supplement his income and that he used MDMA himself.
Parata-Plant, who had since turned 24, pleaded guilty to 16 offences including 10 counts of supplying a dangerous drug, two of possessing dangerous drugs, and one each of possessing a dangerous drug above the 2g schedule and possessing LSD above the .0044g schedule and possessing phones for drug supply.
Justice Elizabeth Wilson sentenced Parata-Plant to two years in jail but ordered he be released on parole immediately.
COBY JAMES BELL
Gold Coast dad Coby James Bell set up a drug trafficking business on Snapchat and arranged the supply of the party drug MDMA and cannabis through text messages.
The 21-year-old Bell pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court in August to six charges, including drug trafficking and supply.
Police uncovered text messages detailing Bell’s criminal activity during a raid of his home on March 31, 2020.
The court heard Bell also made admissions to police during the raid and used Snapchat to advertise the sale of Diazepam (also known as Valium), the anxiety medication Oxazepam and Clonazepam, a medication used to treat seizures, panic disorders and anxiety.
Bell advertised the drugs for sale for between $40 and $80 a bottle, the court was told.
He made three sales totalling $430 in a week in March 2020 and also offered to supply the drugs on a further 12 occasions.
Text messages on his phone also revealed he supplied an unknown quantity of MDMA to a person for $330 on credit on March 1.
He supplied 2g of MDMA on March 10 and a further 5g on another occasion. Bell supplied between $30 and $50 of cannabis during another deal.
All of the 21-year-old’s offending occurred between March 1 and April 1, 2020.
Judge Jodie Wooldridge sentenced Bell to three years’ imprisonment, with an immediate release on parole with convictions recorded.
KALEIB PETER BARTHOLOMEW
Kaleib Peter Bartholomew, 20, pleaded guilty in Rockhampton District Court in August to 11 counts of supplying a dangerous drug and one count each of possessing an illicit drug, drug utensils and anything used in a crime.
Crown prosecutor Maryam Yousufzai said Bartholomew carried out the supplies, or offers to supply, between May 13, 2021, and June 22, 2021.
She said there was one actual supply of MDMA and three of marijuana with the other supply charges related to offers to supply MDMA and marijuana.
Ms Yousufzai said police searched Bartholomew’s residence in June 2021, locating 3.2g of marijuana, a grinder, pipes, cut straws and homemade bongs, along with his phone which revealed the evidence of the 11 counts of supplying drugs.
Defence barrister Sheridan Shaw said when her client purchased some marijuana, he was given some MDMA by the supplier who told Bartholomew he should sell it to make some money.
Judge Jeff Clarke sentenced Bartholomew to 15 months’ prison with immediate parole.
ARON NEVILLE WILSON
On the run after narrowly avoiding a police raid on his home, methylamphetamine trafficker Aron Neville Wilson was brought down by specialist police following a dramatic 2020 stand-off involving a stolen car and loaded sawn-off shotgun at a Toowoomba service station.
Wilson, 29, faced Toowoomba Supreme Court in June where he pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs, five counts of possessing dangerous drugs and unlawful possession of a weapon.
The court was told a search warrant was executed on his home in January 2020, four months into his operation, where a large quantity of drugs were found including 20g of methylamphetamine, 15g of MDMA and $17,000 in cash.
After serving three years and three months of a six-and-a-half-year jail sentence for the robbery of a service station while armed with a shotgun, the court was told Wilson was released on parole in May 2018.
However, in 2019, Wilson supplied a “significant quantity” of cannabis to a juvenile, though he was unaware of the person’s age at the time.
The court heard Wilson’s trafficking escalated, and over a period of eight months he was involved in a drug enterprise involving methylamphetamine and cannabis.
Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald said Wilson’s trafficking continued, which saw him possess weapons and threaten people who owed him drug money.
The enterprise came crashing down on May 15, 2020 when police executed a search warrant on his home, and after refusing to open the door, Wilson managed to escape and fled the scene.
Ten days later, Wilson was spotted in a stolen car at a Harristown service station, and despite attempting to escape he was apprehended and a loaded sawn-off shotgun was found in the vehicle.
Justice Martin Burns sentenced Wilson to six years behind bars, but with 739 days of presentence custody recognised as time served made him immediately eligible for parole.
MARTIJN DE RAAD
Martijn De Raad came to the attention of police in 2019 when the then 29-year-old arrived at a Toowoomba address that was the subject of a police drug raid and a search of his car found a large quantity of drugs including 10g of MDMA.
Police also uncovered 9.2g of methylamphetamine, 0.842g of cocaine and $3020.
Following his arrest and release on bail, police investigations continued into phones seized, which revealed the extent of De Raad’s trafficking.
De Raad appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court in June 2022, where he pleaded guilty to trafficking in dangerous drugs, five counts of possessing a dangerous drug and contravening an order about information necessary to access an electronic device.
He was convicted and sentenced to three years’ jail. With 83 days of presentence custody declared as time served, De Raad was released on immediate parole.
STEVEN JOHN LEWIS
Toowoomba father of two Steven John Lewis avoided jail time after pleading guilty in Toowoomba Supreme Court to trafficking and possessing drugs above the 2g schedule along with possessing tainted property.
The court heard that Lewis, during the trafficking period, had a customer base for cannabis of about 30 to 40 people, while he occasionally supplied MDMA to about six people.
Lewis was found with 100g of cannabis, 2.08g of cocaine, 2.18g of ecstasy, 33 tablets of LSD, and $11,400 during a police search of his home on September 3, 2019, Toowoomba Supreme Court heard.
The 35-year-old co-operated fully with police, telling them he had been selling predominantly cannabis and, although he used the drug himself, confessed to selling the drugs for money, the court heard.
Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court the Crown accepted Lewis had trafficked at a street level.
Justice Martin Burns told Lewis his offending had put his family and business at risk and both would struggle should he be sent to prison.
Justice Burns noted Lewis had just two entries on his criminal history, both for drug offending and for which he was placed on probation.
He sentenced Lewis to 30 months in jail but ordered he be released on parole immediately.
JORDAN DEAN KING
Yeppoon man Jordan Dean King used Bitcoin to buy MDMA to sell, the Supreme Court in Rockhampton heard when he pleaded guilty to trafficking charges in May.
King, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking drugs, one possess drug utensils, possess a restricted drug, possess anything used in a crime and possess item suspected used in a drug crime.
The court heard King trafficked drugs for five months between August 19, 2020 and January 19, 2021, making 15 supplies of MDMA.
He also made 92 supplies of marijuana, and eight of cocaine – all street level quantities – to 29 customers in Yeppoon and Rockhampton.
Justice Graeme Crow described King’s trafficking offences as “serious” and “evil”, stating he was troubled King’s wife had referred to it in her letter to the court as “a silly mistake”.
He said King purchased testosterone online and had it sent in the mail while he used Bitcoin to purchase MDMA with the price fluctuating over the trafficking period, resulting in him sometimes paying $45 a capsule.
Justice Crow sentenced King to 3.5 years prison, wholly suspended and operational for 3.5 years.
He said King’s high level of co-operation with police when they raided his home, the fact they were street-level supplies, his lack of relevant history, lack of weapons and violence, saved him from serving actual time in prison.
ANITA MARIE HUTCHINSON
Rockhampton woman Anita Marie Hutchinson was sentenced to six months’ jail after a night out at the pokies turned sour and she was busted with 28g of MDMA in her handbag.
The Supreme Court of Rockhampton heard Hutchinson told police the MDMA was put in her bag by a new sex partner without her knowledge, days after she messaged a drug client to say she was waiting for the MDMA to be supplied.
She pleaded guilty in February to four counts of supplying a dangerous drug but not guilty to possessing a dangerous drug in excess of 2g.
However, it took a jury about an hour to reach the verdict of guilty to the charge of possessing over 2g of a dangerous drug.
She was sentenced to two years-and-six months’ imprisonment in March. The court heard the MDMA was found in the same zipper compartment of her bag as $1400 to which Hutchinson said she had no knowledge.
Hutchinson claimed she left her handbag with her then new partner while he played a pokie machine and she played another on his behalf.
The 53-year-old also claimed she did not know how to play pokie machines and her new partner, 46, had fed hundreds of dollars into the machines at Bartletts Tavern that night, walking away with at least one $1400 payout.
The jury heard the new partner had drug convictions on his criminal record with the most recent being from 2016 and he was convicted in the Southport Magistrates Court for possessing drugs.
Hutchinson had no criminal record prior to pleading guilty to the supply charges.
Police officer Senior Constable Peter Coonan searched Hutchinson’s handbag after he pulled her over for a breath test and found $1400 in $50 and $20 notes, along with 27.921g of MDMA of which 11.28g was pure substance, in a compartment of her handbag which was separate from where her wallet was kept.
Crown prosecutor Matthew Sutton said a female customer had asked Hutchinson to supply 11 MDMA capsules and 1g of cocaine on July 7, but she told her she could not get her hands on cocaine.
Other supply charges related to Hutchinson arranging to sell cocaine and MDMA on July 11.
Under cross-examination, Hutchinson claimed she had never seen a capsule of MDMA before, did not know how many grams were in a capsule, what good quality drugs looked like and she had never used drugs.
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