Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, sentenced for attempting to collect 139kg of cocaine from bus shipment

A court has been told two Victorian men who were busted as part of the second-largest cocaine seizure in SA history were just disposable “muppets” for an organised crime syndicate.

Two young Victorian men who were busted trying to collect over $17m worth of cocaine that had been hidden in luxury buses shipped to South Australia were simply “dispensable muppets” exploited for owing drug money, a court has heard.

Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, and Rayn Sadik, 20, on Wednesday sat silently as they learned they’d spend at least six more months behind bars for attempting to collect one of the biggest cocaine hauls in South Australian history.

In January last year, Australian Border Force officers intercepted a ship bound for South Australia from Singapore after receiving intelligence relating to a transnational crime syndicate.

Four luxury buses on the ship were searched by Border Force maritime officers who found suspicious packages.

Those packages held 139kg of cocaine – leading to SA’s second largest bust in history.

139kg of cocaine was located across four buses in the shipment. Picture: AFP

The cocaine was hidden in various places in the four buses – including behind TV screens and in air conditioner units. Picture: Australian Federal Police

The packages were then switched by Australian Federal Police officers for ones with fake substances.

Police tracked the buses as they were unloaded in Adelaide and delivered to a suburban car park in Mansfield Park on February 3.

Two Victorian men – later revealed as Al-Asadi and Sadik – then broke into the carpark to collect what they, according to police, thought was the real cocaine, and took it to a hotel where officers pounced on the duo.

They were both charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, and remanded in custody.

In the South Australian District Court on Wednesday morning, Judge Joana Fuller said the pair had owed money to drug dealers, who gave them an ultimatum – come up with the money, or help them instead.

Out of fear, she said, the duo agreed to travel to Adelaide from Western Australia, but were not told what they were helping out with.

The two men were arrested in Adelaide following the seizure of 139kg of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of luxury buses. Picture: Australian Federal Police

The two men were arrested in Adelaide following the seizure of 139kg of cocaine hidden inside a shipment of luxury buses. Picture: Australian Federal Police

It was not until they were breaking into the four buses that they realised the gravity of the offence they were committing.

“The prosecution accepts that you were both low level participants, but contends that you both performed an essential role in the collection of the drugs,” Judge Fuller said.

“When confronted with the reality of the crime in which you were involved, you participated in it.”

She said their troubled childhoods had led them both down a path of drug use, with each of the young men then owing money to the wrong people.

Their intended use, she said, for the “higher up” members of the organised crime syndicate was to be disposable collectors of the drugs.

“There was nothing particular or unique about either of you that singled you out as candidates for this aspect of the enterprise.

“As Mr Edwardson KC (for Al-Asadi) frankly put it, you were both muppets. You were involved at one of the lowest levels of participation, and were plainly dispensable, and intended to be dispensable if anything should go wrong.”

Judge Fuller sentenced the duo to four years imprisonment, reducing that to three years for their early guilty pleas.

“I impose a non-parole period of 18 months,” she said to each of them.

“You now have an end in sight in terms of you incarceration. It is apparent to me that it’s been difficult for both of you, and now you have something to work towards.”

They will be eligible for parole in August this year.

Originally published as Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, sentenced for attempting to collect 139kg of cocaine from bus shipment