Mt Dandenong bricklayer Dion Camilleri pleads guilty to drug trafficking in commercial quantity

A Mt Dandenong brickie claimed he was a “courier” for a mysterious racket which buried drugs underground.

Dion Camilleri pleaded guilty to trafficking 1,4 butanediol. Facebook.

A Mt Dandenong brickie who claimed he was getting paid to good coin to shift more than 6kg of a dangerous rave drug linked to date rape has avoided further jail time.

Dion Camilleri, 27, was sentenced in the County Court on Friday to time served – 63 days – after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of 1,4 butanediol.

Camilleri was busted at R.J. Hammer Arboretum in Olinda by cops who had been called out to investigate a disturbance early on July 18 last year.

The bricklayer, who was living with his parents at the time, attempted to conceal a black bag containing the lethal substance which mirrors party drug GHB when ingested.

Camilleri claimed he got his ute bogged on a wooden post but denied the bag of drugs was his.

The bute was contained in seven dirt-covered bottles, some of which were strapped with duct tape, the court was told.

Police discovered the drugs, hauled Camilleri in for questioning then raided his Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd home.

Investigators discovered GHB, meth, cannabis and multiple mobile phones at the property.

Camilleri, who submitted he was a”courier”, said he was getting paid $2000 to transport the drugs.

“It was my job,” Camilleri said.

“Someone … would pick it up, I’d get my money, and then it’d be gone, ‘cause I dunno what they do with it.

“This is honestly, like, the second time I’ve been involved with it … I didn’t know what was in there … maybe pills, ecstasy pills.

“I know it was going to be illegal … they had a whole heap of, like, puff buried and everything … the juice wasn’t mine.”

The court was told Camilleri, a father of two, grew up in the Dandenong Ranges where he played football and cricket for local teams.

Camilleri also has an “impressive work history” employed mainly as bricklayer since dropping out of St Joseph’s College in Ferntree Gully in Year 9, the court heard.

It was also submitted Camilleri had been a “productive, contributing member of the community” for “virtually his whole life”.

Camilleri undertook extensive drug rehabilitation while on bail and wanted to ensure he regained the care of his two children.

Judge David Brookes also sentenced Camilleri to a three-year community correction order.

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