Adelaide cocaine problem exposed: The South Australian traffickers who faced court in the past 12 months

$45m worth of cocaine won’t make it onto SA streets this weekend after a huge police bust but how much of the dangerous party drug are South Aussies really doing?

Australia’s “large demand” for cocaine has reached “unprecedented levels” authorities warn, with nearly 20kg used in just one month in Adelaide according to recent data.

The warning comes as 139kg of the dangerous party drug destined for South Australian streets was discovered hidden inside a shipment of luxury buses.

The second-largest bust in the state’s history had an estimated $45m street value, according to the Australian Border Force.

Reports indicate cocaine on the rise in SA as ABF targets “relentless” organised crime syndicates supplying the “harmful” drug market.

Chief superintendent Bart England told The Advertiser the increasing cocaine demand was a concerning trend across the country.

“Australia is a hugely attractive market for transnational serious organised criminal syndicates looking to import illegal drugs,” he said.

“Cocaine shipments are being seized at the nation’s borders at unprecedented levels as Australia confronts a global surge in trafficking.

“Organised crime syndicates are relentless in their efforts to flood our shores with cocaine and their sole motivation is greed and profit, pure and simple. We see it coming from all over the world, but largely South America and Europe.”

Authorities say the importation of cocaine in Australia is at “unprecedented levels”.

Adelaide’s cocaine problem on the rise

An estimated 19.5kg of cocaine was used in Adelaide in June 2023 – a significant jump from the 7kg consumed in October the year before, wastewater reports indicate.

The findings released by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission in November revealed cocaine use had spiked between 2022 and 2023 based on wastewater testing.

Adelaide residents consumed 11.7kg of the substance in June 2022, increasing to 19.5kg 12 months later, according to the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program report.

Regional South Australian are using significantly less cocaine than their city counterparts, however the report still showed a slight increase in usage in the 12 month period.

While Australian Federal Police officers seized six tonnes of coke bound for Australia last year, only 23kg was intercepted in SA.

An AFP spokesman told The Advertiser that Transnational, Serious Organised Crime groups were using “diverse methods” to bring drugs into the country, including international mail and passengers, commercial air and sea cargo vessels.

“Commercial freight, hull attachments and mother/daughter at sea transfers continue to present the greatest threat, by volume, for illicit drug imports into Australia, including cocaine,” the spokesman said.

But it seems the consequences of drug trafficking – which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years imprisonment in SA – is not enough to deter people from getting involved in circulating the drug.

These South Australians were busted trafficking or attempting to traffic cocaine in the last twelve months.

Dylan Tiver

Dylan Tiver pleaded guilty to drug charges. Picture: NCA NewsWire

This former FIFO worker was busted with nearly 340g of cocaine and more than $10,000 in cash, but his lawyer says he “no more than a street-level drug dealer in over his head.”

Dylan Ryan Chapman Tiver, 31, pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking in a controlled drug, one count of commercial drug trafficking and one count of money laundering.

He was charged after police located 339g of cocaine and $11,800 at properties in Noarlunga Downs and O’Sullivan Beach, as well as in a Holden vehicle in November 2022.

Tiver’s lawyer Casey Isaacs said he was using about 30g of the drug a day and his addiction was fuelled by his dealing habit but he had no intention to profit from it.

“He instructs he was using about an ounce a week, about 28g,” he said.

“This was not a planned enterprise where he was operating in a hierarchy. He was operating like a street dealer but just in large amounts.”

Mr Isaacs said Tiver got involved in drugs when his relationship broke down, and he lost his fly-in-fly-out job due to the pandemic.

Tiver will be sentenced in March.

Eamon Dahlgren

SA Police administration officer Eamon Dahlgren has been given a home detention sentence for trafficking cocaine. Pic Roy VanDerVegt

Former SA Police employee Eamon Dahlgren was captured in a covert sting selling and supplying cocaine from his car.

The 26-year-old Mawson Lakes man was busted dealing cocaine after police anti-corruption branch detectives launched an investigation and installed a recording device in his BMW.

A prosecutor said Dahlgren, who pleaded guilty to 14 counts of drug trafficking, had been using the money to fund his “indulgent and hedonistic lifestyle”.

The court heard one undercover operative approached Dahlgren at a bus stop where they exchanged social media handles and discussed the price of cocaine.

In one message, Dahlgren told the operative that “cocaine is $350 in Adelaide and that if (she) was paying $400, she didn’t know the right people”.

Craig Caldicott, for Dahlgren, said the offending had shattered his client’s dream of becoming a lawyer.

Judge Heath Barklay said officers found 5g of cocaine, $1000 cash, two electronic scales and a large amount of plastic resealable bags at Dahlgren’s home.

In sentencing in October 2023 Dahlgren was sentenced to three years and three months in prison with a non-parole period of 20 months.

Judge Barklay said his lack of prior offending and “excellent prospects of rehabilitation” meant he was a suitable candidate to serve that sentence on home detention.

Matthew Campbell

This personal trainer pleaded for the South Australian District Court not to jail him, despite being caught with $30,000 worth of cocaine and unexplained wealth.

Matthew Dale Campbell’s “serious mistake” landed him a three-year jail sentence, after he refused to snitch on how he became entangled in the crime.

The Craigmore father-of-three pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering.

During sentencing, the court heard police attended the 35-year-old’s home address on June 25, 2019.

They seized five plastic bags containing 125.5g of cocaine from beneath the seats of his car and $17,800 from his bedroom.

The court heard the cocaine was valued between $30,000 and $37,000.

He also had $51,000 in his bank account which he couldn’t provide a reason for.

Despite Campbell’s counsel pushing for a home detention sentence, Judge Joanne Tracey sentenced him to three years and three months jail, with a non-parole period of 20-months.

Originally published as Adelaide cocaine problem exposed: The South Australian traffickers who faced court in the past 12 months