Johnson Harry Rowe accused of co-ordinating sale of 50kg of drugs in Western Australia

A Gold Coast man accused of co-ordinating trafficking of 50kg of dangerous drugs in Western Australia in an alleged “transnational drug syndicate” will be flown to Perth on Good Friday.

A Gold Coast man accused of co-ordinating trafficking of 50kg of dangerous drugs in Western Australia in an alleged “transnational drug syndicate” will be flown to Perth on Good Friday.

Johnson Harry Rowe was ordered to be extradited to the other side of the country where he is expected to front a Perth court on Saturday.

It is alleged Rowe was on the Gold Coast when he used a cipher phone to co-ordinate the sale of 30kg of cocaine, 10kg of the drug ice and 10kg of heroin in Western Australia in November, 2020.

Text messages were alleged to have been sent by Rowe from an encrypted cipher phone. It included one allegedly arranging for the storage of $100,000 of dangerous drugs.

He is expected to face charges of trafficking, money laundering and dealing with proceeds of crime in Western Australia.

Rowe, who lives on the Gold Coast, was arrested earlier this week.

He appeared in Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday where Magistrate Tracy Mossop ordered his extradition.

The court was told other Western Australian-based members of the alleged drug syndicate were arrested in 2020 and were still before the courts.

Rowe is alleged to be the “organiser” of the operation.

Defence lawyer Danielle Heable, of Dib & Associates, told the court there were problems with the bail affidavit because a Queensland police officer had sworn to the strength of the case without seeing the Western Australian police’s brief of evidence.

She said it was unclear how police had linked Rowe to the cipher phone.

A ciper phone is a mobile with an application which encrypts messages and only allows the phone to communicate via email or text with other cipher devices.

“If Mr Rowe is on the other end of those text messages then police should be able to prove he was on the other end of the cipher phone at the time,” she said.

Magistrate Mossop, based on the evidence, ordered the extradition.

She also denied Rowe’s application for bail.

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