Mother of two and conduit between drug dealers front court

A 50-year-old Melbourne mum helped flood the streets with a deadly drug to fund her drug and gambling addiction.

Thang Nguyen was one of six Malaysian drug syndicate members who all have been sentenced for their roles in trafficking heroin.

A Melbourne mother who acted as a broker for a Malaysian heroin trafficking syndicate to fund her drug and gambling addictions has been jailed.

Janet Tran, 50, earlier pleaded guilty to charges of heroin trafficking and another of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and appeared for sentencing in the County Court on Monday.

Judge John Carmody sentenced her to seven years and seven months in prison, with a minimum non parole of four years and six months.

She trafficked 7.1kg of heroin over 10 transactions between April and May 2022.

Four others involved in the drug syndicate— Yong Cheng, Jimmy Lang, Khai Mong and Wei Teoh– were last week sentenced to a combined 55 yeats jail.

The sixth person, Thang Nguyen, was earlier sentenced to six-months imprisonment after pleading guilty to one charge of heroin trafficking.

The six were arrested as part of Operation Kingfisher that Victoria Police launched in 2021 to identify drug dealing in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

Police recovered more than $600,000 in cash which were proceeds of crime, more than four kilograms of the about 14kg of heroin the Director of Public Prosecutions believes was trafficked, and other items, during pre-dawn raids last year.

Luxury handbags, watches and shoes, jewellery and gold were also seized.

In court on Monday, Judge Carmody said Tran was the broker and conduit between Teoh and other drug dealers between April and May 2022.

Although Tran was not present during drug dealings, Judge Carmody said she has had a direct role in brokering the deal between Teoh and recipients of the heroin. “You also had enough control on some of the transactions and on occasions, you’d talk Teoh down on the price of a product to sell.”

Police recovered $19,500 in cash and several mobile phones from a house she lived in. Tran denied knowing Teoh and Cheng.

Born in Vietnam, Tran spent one to two years in a refugee camp in Malaysia and at the age of 12, came to Australia as a refugee.

Judge Carmoidy said Tran was forced into servitude to cook and clean in a dressmaking business and by 1994, she had became a regular gambler. She was in her third relationship by that time.

Her partner walked out of the relationship after her gambling spiralled out of control. A forensic psychologist diagnosed her with dependent personality disorder on the basis of her childhood abuse.