Geelong drug dealer Alex Urquhart pleads guilty to trafficking bute and ice, possessing weapons

The lawyer for a commercial drug trafficker caught with more than $114k cash and 30kg of drugs has told a court his “kingpin” lifestyle was a projected persona.

Alex Urquhart has spent years in and out of prison over the past decade, almost exclusively for drug trafficking, the court heard.

A “high-level” Geelong drug trafficker busted with more than 30kg of drugs and $114,000 in cash, had a trove of guns, gold jewellery and luxury cars but his lawyer told a court his “kingpin” lifestyle was projection.

Alex Urquhart, 31, appeared via videolink in the County Court in Geelong on Thursday, and pleaded guilty to trafficking commercial quantities of both 1,4 butanediol and ice, along with charges of dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime and numerous weapons offences.

According to documents released by the court, Urquhart was intercepted by police in his BMW after they saw him swerving across Pakington St before 5am on June 1, 2022.

A search revealed a pocketknife, ziplock bags of ice and heroin, more than $4000 in cash and four other sets of car keys.

Evidence found on Alex Urquhart's phone included a photo of the trafficker posing in a balaclava with a stolen firearm. The balaclava read "no face, no case" but Urquhart was identified using tattoos on his hands. Picture released by the County Court of Victoria.

Police raided Urquhart’s Moolap unit after his arrest, seizing a homemade gun, steroids and a knife. Inside a stolen Volkswagen in Urquhart’s shed, police found firearm magazines, scopes and boxes of ammunition as well as a bag full of watches and jewellery.

More than 30kg of 1,4 butanediol – 15 times the threshold for a commercial quantity – as well as over 100g of ice and $110,000 cash were also found.

1,4 butanediol, known as bute or “liquid fantasy” is a precursor to party drug GHB.

A CCTV video found on Urquhart’s phone from April 2022, showed him firing two shots at a ute driving away from his home.

The court heard Urquhart had spent about five of the past ten years behind bars.

Judge Marcus Dempsey told the court Urquhart was a man with “an insatiable appetite for selling drugs” and asked his lawyer, barrister Jonathan Barreiro, what sentence he could impose that would stop him reoffending.

Mr Barreiro said as Urquhart did not consider the consequences when offending, a punitive jail sentence would only work “to a degree” in deterring him.

Instead Urquhart’s sentence should instead place emphasis on rehabilitation, Mr Barreiro argued.

Mr Barreiro told the court Urquhart had spoken of the “tension” between “working long hours for not much money and being able to make a lot of money in a short time by trafficking drugs”.

Mr Barreiro said Urquhart was above a “street dealer” but not at the top of the chain, merely projecting “the lifestyle that he is more of a kingpin than he actually is”.

Judge Dempsey said Urquhart’s adoption of a drug dealer “persona” and its “trappings” was concerning.

Mr Barreiro said the persona was a “counterpoint to the way he grew up, as someone ridiculed for wearing glasses and having asthma”.

The court heard Urquhart was an “intense drug user” and Mr Barreiro said while there had been moments of stability in his life, things had tended to “unravel quickly”.

Prosecutor Richard Pirrie said the prosecution “did not accept” that Urquhart’s own drug use was “in any way a mitigating factor”, noting the 1.6g of ice a day figure cited in a psychologist's report was “self-reported” and “would kill an elephant”.

Urquhart will be sentenced on July 18.

Originally published as Geelong drug dealer Alex Urquhart pleads guilty to trafficking bute and ice, possessing weapons