Sam Kul gets jail time after bungled drug smuggling plan
A Roxburgh Park man thought he could fix his money woes by smuggling up to $4 million in cocaine into Melbourne. But his search history showed he was planning the bungled crime months in advance.
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Seven Google searches have a cost a bungling drug courier wannabe at least six years behind bars.
Sam Kul, 36, looked stunned today as County Court judge Trevor Wraight jailed him for nine years with a minimum non-parole period of six years.
Kul was down on his luck in April 2017, drowning in debt and newly single after a breaking up with the woman he bought a brand new Mercedes AMG to try to impress.
He decided to smuggle cocaine with a street value estimated at up to $4 million into Melbourne as a way to fix his worries.
He’d been promised $20,000 to courier the shipment.
When he was busted by customs officials at Melbourne Airport, following an overseas getaway to Italy and France, the desperate holiday-maker acted surprised.
Kul insisted his bags had been tampered with, demanded airport staff review CCTV, and claimed he had no idea how almost 5kg of cocaine came to be sewn into a false bottom in his suitcase.
But a search of the internet history on his phone by sceptical officers uncovered he had been plotting his crime for over a month.
He first Googled “bringing money into Australia”, “bringing money through customs”, and “can money be seen on airport scanners”.
Two days later he Googled “bringing a million dollars through airport” and viewed related internet sites.
A week before his bust he checked: “does customs check every bag Australia” and “does every bag get scanned airport”.
Five days later, and a bit late, he asked Google: “how to browse privately on samsung”.
Given his history as an airport security guard, Kul should have known better.
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The Roxburgh Park man pleaded not guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
But he was convicted by a jury following a County Court trial.
He argued at trial he didn’t know he was carrying drugs, and thought he was carrying cash.
However the jury rejected his claims.
Prosecutors conceded the offending didn’t warrant the maximum sentence, of life imprisonment, despite Kul’s repeated lies about the crime.
Judge Wraight said he accepted Kul had positive prospects of rehabilitation.
And he said while he accepted Kul didn’t organise the importation, his role as courier was indispensable.