Tony Nguyen: Truganina accused drug kingpin’s meth and cocaine charges

An accused Truganina drug kingpin allegedly sold a covert cop $30,000 worth of drugs including meth and cocaine.

An accused Truganina drug kingpin attempted to recruit an undercover cop to his major trafficking syndicate, a court has heard.

Tony Nguyen, 26, fronted Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Friday after he was slapped with 45 charges including trafficking a commercial quantity of meth.

Nguyen landed on the police radar after investigators had dealings with a Chadstone drug dealer who Nguyen had allegedly supplied.

It’s alleged Nguyen sold the cop 3.5g of meth for $135 in South Yarra on December 9, telling the officer he could supply large weights of meth, heroin, MDMA and cocaine at hours notice.

Nguyen, who was also charged with trafficking cocaine and selling a firearm, allegedly sold the cop an ounce of meth for $5500 at a Southbank apartment on December 17.

It’s alleged the officer watched Nguyen measure the drug out of a bag estimated to contain 200g of meth.

Nguyen allegedly told the cop he would like him to join his syndicate and revealed he had got half a kilogram of meth from a 5kg import into the country.

The officer noticed a loaded gun on a table and Nguyen allegedly explained he had paid $8000 for the rare Colt 45 handgun.

On Christmas Eve, Nguyen allegedly sold the cop another 28g of meth for $5500 at Box Hill City Oval, saying he had other guns and would sell them to the officer, also offering to sell meth in as large amounts as 250g.

Nguyen then sold the cop 112g of meth for $18,800 at the oval on January 11, as well as what appeared to be a .45 handgun with ‘US army’ written on it for $8500 and four rounds of ammo.

The gun was later found to be an imitation firearm that had been modified to make it work, yet it proved to be incapable of firing.

Nguyen was sprung on January 21 when he arranged to meet the cop in Mt Waverley to sell 167g of meth, 28g of heroin and a replacement gun for $37,700.

He was driving what police believed to be a stolen Mercedes, which contained 170g of meth, 28g of heroin, $6000, a handgun, an imitation handgun, ammunition and false number plates.

Investigators then searched his Truganina home and found 41g of meth, cannabis, $750 and drug paraphernalia

A search of an apartment, he had allegedly rented with a fake ID, uncovered an allegedly stolen car, 31 vials of steroids, six steroid tablets and a money counting machine.

He was also found to be unlicensed, despite having driven to the drug deals.

The court heard Nguyen had only been released from jail on July 27, 2020, after he was convicted for charges including trafficking meth.

Police argued the unemployed man was an unacceptable risk of offending if released on bail.

Nguyen’s lawyer proposed he be bailed to a residential drug rehabilitation facility — Odyssey House — saying it was likely to take years for Nguyen’s charges to go to trial.

Magistrate Kieran Gilligan agreed delays in the court system meant there were exceptional circumstances for why Nguyen should be granted bail.

However Mr Gilligan refused bail, noting Nguyen had a history of not complying with court orders and deeming he was an unacceptable risk of offending.

Nguyen will face court at a later date.

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