Rayn Sadik, Yousif Al-Asadi re-sentenced for attempting to import 139kg of cocaine, prison time doubled
Two interstate men who tried to collect a massive amount of cocaine in South Australia will spend double the amount of time behind bars for their crimes.
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Two young Victorian men once labelled nothing more than “muppets” used to transport South Australia’s second largest cocaine haul in history will spend double the amount of time in prison after a court found their sentences were “manifestly inadequate”.
Remaining emotionless as they appeared in the Court of Appeal via video link from prison on Thursday morning, Victorian men Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, heard they’d no longer be eligible for parole in August this year.
The duo were sentenced earlier this year after attempting to collect nearly $17m worth of cocaine out of a shipment of luxury buses.
In January 2024, Australian Border Force officers intercepted a ship bound for South Australia from Singapore after receiving intelligence relating to a transnational crime syndicate.
Four luxury buses on the ship were searched by Border Force maritime officers who found suspicious packages.
Those packages held 139kg of cocaine – leading to SA’s second largest bust in history.
Sadik and Al-Asadi both pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, and were jailed for their crimes.
In January, the duo were jailed for three years and one day, taking into account a 25 per cent discount for their early pleas of guilty.
Earlier this year, the Director of Public Prosecutions launched an appeal on the pair’s jail term, calling that sentence “manifestly inadequate”.
The sentence had a non-parole period of 18 months, which was backdated to the date they were taken into custody in February 2024, meaning they would be eligible for parole in August of this year.
On Thursday, however, the Court of Appeal agreed with the DPP, and found there was good reason to extend the custodial sentences for both men.
In handing down their Judgement, President Mark Livesey, Justice Sam Doyle and Justice Sophie David found the existing sentence would affect “public confidence” in the justice system.
“Having regard to the maximum penalty of life imprisonment, the essential role undertaken by each respondent in attempting to possess a vast and valuable quantity of cocaine worth millions of dollars, and notwithstanding the sentencing judge’s findings about the reduced moral culpability of each respondent and their favourable personal circumstances, the sentences imposed were plainly manifestly inadequate,” the Judgement read.
“They are so manifestly inadequate as to amount to an error of principle. Sentences such as these undermine public confidence in the administration of justice.”
They further said the sentences were so “disproportionately low that this court’s principled intervention is necessary”.
The court re-sentenced both men to a period of nine years in prison, which, after a 25 per cent discount for their guilty pleas, was decreased to six years and nine months.
They were sentenced to a new non-parole period of four years, meaning both Sadik and Al-Asadi will be eligible for release in February 2028.
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Originally published as Rayn Sadik, Yousif Al-Asadi re-sentenced for attempting to import 139kg of cocaine, prison time doubled
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