David John Kucan: Former businessman turned bikie cash mule sentenced after international undercover police operation

A former business owner and “clean skin” family man has been sentenced after he was caught by an international undercover police operation with more than $2 million in cash. Read what happened here.

Former Millard tyre service owner David Kucan was sentenced over three counts of dealing with money worth $100,000 or more reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime. Photo Craig Sadler / Tweed Daily News.

A former tyre businessman and clean-cut father of three who was caught by undercover police with $3 million in cash for a bikie’s cocaine purchase has been sentenced.

David John Kucan, 48, pleaded guilty to three counts of dealing with money worth $100,000 or more reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime and one summary offence of possess restricted item when he appeared in Southport District Court on Monday, March 24.

The Grafton man was sentenced after he had been pulled over by police with more than $2 million in cash in his car in 2021.

But the actions that led to Kucan’s arrest first started on the other side of the globe in Madrid, Spain when a civilian operative met with Lone Wolf bikie Jordan Johnson Whetu Curry as part of police operation Project Mathey in 2020.

The Crown alleged the civilian operator offered to introduce Curry to a trusted Australian-based cryptocurrency broker willing to accept cash in exchange for cryptocurrency.

But the broker who claimed the ability to accept bulk amounts of cash and remit the equivalent amount in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies was actually an online undercover operative.

Curry allegedly agreed to purchase digital currency on July 2, 2020, requested the collection of $300,000 in cash and arranged for the collection to occur in the Yatala area.

That same month, the court heard Kucan met with an undercover operative in Yatala and gave him a backpack containing $300,000.

Before handing the backpack over, the undercover operative was required to provide a $5 note to verify the transaction which Kucan photographed on his phone.

Money seized by police during the operation.

In September 17, 2020 another transaction for $300,000 was arranged with Kucan again handing a backpack with the cash to an undercover operative and using the same verification process.

The court heard Curry met an accomplice overseas and allegedly negotiated the shipment of 300 kilograms of cocaine into Australia in 2021.

The Crown allege Curry arranged the supply of an initial 62 kilograms of cocaine in exchange for $3 million.

On April 8, 2021, police intercepted Kucan travelling northbound on the Pacific Highway, Elanora where more than $2 million in cash was found in two sports bags and one backpack.

Officers also found a cipher phone and a telescopic baton in the car, with a review of his iPhone identifying Curry as a contact on Facebook Messenger.

The court heard in a pre-sentence psychologist report that Kucan said he was recruited in 2019 when he sold his tyre business and was recognised as a “clean skin” having no criminal history.

Kucan was sentenced in the Southport District Court on Monday, March 24. Picture: Facebook

Crown prosecutor Dylan Kerr said while Kucan’s role could be described as being a mule, it was still an important role and without people like Kucan to engage in this kind of conduct, none of the transactions would have occurred.

Kucan’s defence barrister Russell Pearce, instructed by Universal Law, said his client had taken steps to resolve the matter and showed remorse by pleading guilty to a case which may not have succeeded had it gone to trial.

Mr Pearce said he was not suggesting the Crown would have failed but the matter could have gone to trial due to deficiencies in the brief of evidence. He gave the example of police witnessing bank officers run volumes of money through a machine but not getting a certificate for the operation of the machine.

“This was a house of cards held together by hearsay,” he said.

The court heard Kucan told a forensic psychologist his business had been struggling and after selling it in 2019, he still owed money on a mortgage.

According to a report read out in court, Kucan said he was paid $6,000 for his involvement during the offending period.

In the another report, the court heard Kucan accepted he was aware he was working for individuals who were patch or associated members of an outdoor motorcycle gang.

Judge Katarina Prskalo KC said she accepted Kucan took on the role of a courier but it did not obscure what he did.

He was sentenced to two years and nine months imprisonment with immediate release after giving security by recognisance of $1000.

He is to be of good behaviour for the next three years.