‘Sophisticated enterprise’: career drug dealer Ahn Tran finally jailed after drug, cash and gun bust

A career drug dealer ran an “evil” drug operation from inside an Southbank apartment stacked with an Aladdin’s Cave of heroin, cocaine, ice, meth and MDMA. But then it all came unstuck.

Career drug dealer Ahn Tran was finally jailed after he was caught with meth, MDMA and heroin.

A man in charge of a “serious enterprise” has been jailed after being busted by police with a large cache of drugs, more than $20,000 cash and a semiautomatic handgun.

Police raided Ahn Tran’s leased Southbank apartment and seized 329 grams of pure meth, 35 grams of pure MDMA, 74 grams of heroin and 104 grams of cocaine in November, 2017.

Officers also found a money counting device, zip lock bags and digital scales.

A 9mm Luger Tanfoglio semiautomatic handgun was found in Tran’s car along with three magazines and loose ammunition.

Police found 329 grams of pure meth at Tran’s apartment.

Tran, 37, was sentenced in the County Court on July 17 to a minimum of three years after he pleaded guilty to several charges including two counts trafficking in a drug of dependence.

Judge Frances Hogan said illicit drugs are a “scourge on our society”.

“Trafficking in drugs for profit is an evil thing to do because it creates such misery and destruction in so many lives,” she said.

“Had the amounts of the drugs (Tran was caught with) found their way into the community, the potential for adverse effects upon the community was significant.

“This was no street level dealing in which you were engaged.

“It was a serious enterprise, which was well organised and responsible for significant amounts of money changing hands.

“Moreover, the fact that you possessed a firearm and ammunition, albeit not armed with it when you were arrested, is indicative of the unenviably dangerous milieu in which you were committing your crimes.”

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Tran, who has a long history of offending, was finally sent to prison in 2016 for breaching a CCO.

Judge Hogan said staying off drugs while in custody had “worked in his (Tran’s) favour” but his prospects of rehabilitation “do not look good”.

Tran, who also pleaded guilty to being a prohibited person in possession of a handgun and drug possession, was sentenced to a maximum six years and seven months.

He had spent 580 days in custody at the time of sentencing.