Maidstone dad and drug king pin Paul Ngo’s bid for appeal

A Melbourne drug king with a penchant for luxury cars has sought leave to appeal his 18-year jail sentence, claiming it was too harsh.

Maidstone dad Paul Ngo’s luxury 2018 Lamborghini Huracan was confiscated by police after his illicit dealings were exposed. Picture: AFP

A Melbourne drug kingpin facing almost two decades in jail has sought leave to appeal his sentence.

Paul Ngo, 34, told his family he was working at a bubble tea outlet while scooping up millions of dollars in cash from the illegal drug trade.

The Maidstone father pleaded guilty at the County Court last year to two charges of conspiracy to traffic a commercial quantity of drugs — namely methamphetamine and heroin — and dealing with the proceeds of crime.

This month he sought leave to appeal his 18 year and eight month sentence on grounds that included it was “manifestly excessive”.

In delivering their judgment on Tuesday, February 16, Court of Appeal Justices Stephen Kaye and Richard Niall said Ngo, a father of a young daughter, was the “primary beneficiary” of the cash generated through his syndicate’s illicit trade.

Ngo splashed his drug money on a million-dollar Avondale Heights home, a 2018 Lamborghini and juggled millions of dollars of drug money through various bank accounts.

The court heard Ngo was the brains of the scheme and he was in charge of sourcing and buying the drugs, selling the drugs, collecting and storing the drugs and setting their sale price.

“In his reasons for sentence, the (County Court) judge noted that the applicant had the overall control of the drug trafficking activities of the syndicate,” Justices Kaye and Niall said.

“The applicant, by his conduct, had demonstrated a high level of knowledge of illicit drugs available for purchase, including the quantity and quality, and the wholesale pricing and branding of the drugs.”

They also told the court the sentencing judge had taken into account Ngo’s guilty plea when passing their verdict and they viewed the ultimate sentence imposed was “quite moderate” given the seriousness of Ngo’s offending.

They refused his application for leave to appeal his sentence.

Ngo muse serve a minimum of 12 years and 10 months before becoming eligible for parole.