South Australians busted for peddling cocaine
SA has become a “lucrative” market for cocaine usage reaching record levels during the pandemic. We take a look at some of those busted for peddling the illicit drug.
Narcos on the Front Line
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Last month, News Corp Australia published Narcos, a special seven-part investigation into the global drug trade being fuelled by our huge appetite for illicit substances.
Senior reporter Stephen Drill and video journalist Jason Edwards travelled to the front line to expose the drug cartels and bikie groups plotting to flood our shores with a wave of super strength drugs.
The docuseries went to the source of where the drugs are coming from – exposing not only the deadly ingredients used to produce cocaine but the price being paid by locals at the hands of the deadly cartels of Latin America.
It went deep into the narco tunnels used to smuggle cocaine and ice from Mexico into the United States, and visited the Port of Panama used by cartels to transport their deadly shipments on to the world.
And unless they’re intercepted, those drugs will inevitably end up on our streets to be peddled in clandestine deals, online or in the real world, fuelling the scourge of addiction in our community.
In 2021, South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services director Michael White told The Advertiser SA had become a “lucrative” market for cocaine, because it was more difficult to get the drug into the state - and therefore could be sold at a premium.
Cocaine has historically been uncommon because there is not a direct trade route into South Australia from the areas where cocaine is supplied from,” he said.
“It tends to ship into the eastern states where it is more accessible and more commonly used.
“What has happened over the last few years is there seems to have been an increase in the distribution between South Australia and interstate.
“It’s lucrative because once you get the drugs here you can sell it for a high price.”
In 2021, data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s national wastewater drug monitoring program showed cocaine use in SA had surged during the pandemic to its highest level in four years.
According to the ACIC report, cocaine use increased by 128 per, from 107.1kg in the first year of monitoring to 243.8kg in the fourth year.
Several South Australians were busted for slinging coke over the past few years.
Here’s a look at some of the people who found themselves in front of a judge for their crimes.
THOMAS JAMES BOOKER
Former police officer Thomas James Booker built the most modern of drug syndicates – running on the dark web, dealing in millions of dollars worth of drugs, fuelled by cryptocurrency and flourishing during the pandemic.
Booker, its mastermind, made up to $25,000 a day from his creation, but was snorting $10,000 worth of his own product each week.
When the “Underlinecost” user profile was finally busted, police found $1m in cash, $700,000 in crypto and more than $150,000 worth of cocaine, LSD, cannabis and steroids.
They also seized two residential properties full of expensive wines and liquor and a high-end motorcycle worth a combined $1.27m – all the proceeds of crime.
In April, 2023, Booker fought back tears as the District Court jailed him for 21 years, with a non-parole period of 15 years and two months.
His business partner, Ryan Jordan Suri-Tucker, was jailed for more than five years, with a two-and-a-half-year non-parole period, for his lesser role in the operation.
Booker, 28, pleaded guilty to more than 50 drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
After leaving SA Police in 2018, he began operating the Underlinecost account.
He eventually moved into Suri-Tucker’s spare room, which he leased for $5000 a month.
Booker made his riches by purchasing cannabis, cocaine and the psychedelic hallucinogen psilocin wholesale, then breaking them down into smaller units for sale online.
He also trafficked in large commercial amounts of LSD as well as laundering more than $300,000 cash and importing 8000 tabs of the drug from the Netherlands.
Suri-Tucker, 24, pleaded guilty to 14 offences.
In sentencing, Judge Geraldine Davison said she accepted both men were remorseful, but that could not offset the gravity of their two-man syndicate.
“The damage you have done, and the misery you have caused, cannot be underestimated.”
JOHN NICKY TEDESCO
A man whose hidden million-dollar stash of illicit drugs and laundered money was discovered because he used his mobile phone while driving will spend the next five years behind bars.
In June 2023, the District Court said John Nicky Tedesco’s offending was too serious for anything less than immediate jail, ruling out a suspended or home detention sentence.
Judge Rauf Soulio said he could show Tedesco limited mercy due to his past drug offending and decision not to give evidence about the money’s origin.
Tedesco, 57, of Cheltenham, pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a controlled drug and one count of money laundering.
He was caught when, in July 2020, police pulled him over for using his phone while driving and discovered $28,400 in cash and an axe handle in the car.
As officers searched him, Tedesco unsuccessfully tried to drop two sealed bags containing 3g of methamphetamine in the gutter.
Officers later found 100g of heroin, 50mL of fantasy, 10g of methamphetamine and $7000 worth of cannabis in compartments in the skirting boards of his home.
Those compartments also contained 10 bundles of cash adding up to an eye-watering $447,080.
But the biggest prize was hidden in the bumper of Tedesco’s prized vintage Corvette Stingray – 98.1g of cocaine worth approximately $34,400.
EAMON DAHLGREN
A former SA Police administration officer admitted trafficking cocaine throughout the Adelaide suburbs – including multiple deals on the same day.
Eamon Dahlgren, 25, from Mawson Lakes, was charged with 16 counts of drug trafficking and one count of administering a controlled drug to a person following an internal anti-corruption investigation.
During a committal hearing earlier this month Dahlgren pleaded guilty to 15 charges – 14 of drug trafficking and one of administering a controlled drug.
A further two trafficking charges were dropped.
At the time of Dahlgren’s arrest, SA Police said he was an administration officer at the time of the offending.
A police spokeswoman confirmed that Dahlgren had never been a serving officer and had since left the force.
A charge sheet released by the Magistrates Court shows Mr Dahlgren is alleged to have trafficked a controlled drug, believed to be cocaine, in multiple suburbs over the course of just over a month – with some charges grouped together on the same day.
He is accused of trafficking in Port Adelaide and Angaston on September 17 while on October 8 he is accused of trafficking in Gawler, Burton and Mawson Lakes.
He is also accused of supplying or administering a controlled drug other than cannabis to a person on September 23, 2022, at Gawler.
Charges of trafficking on October 13 and 14 at Greenfields and Mawson Lakes were withdrawn by prosecutors during a hearing in April.
MATTHEW DALE CAMPBELL
A personal trainer’s plea for no jail fell on deaf ears after he was caught with $30,000 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.
During sentencing, the District Court heard police attended at 35-year-old Campbell’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 in his bedroom.
The court heard the cocaine was valued between $30,000 and $37,000.
The Craigmore father-of-three pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and money laundering.
The court heard Campbell’s bank accounts showed $51,000 of unexplained money from March 2018.
Campbell’s counsel argued it was not sufficient evidence to prove his offending wasn’t isolated, pointing to the fact police found no tick lists and there were no telephone intercepts and surveillance.
However, Judge Joanne Tracey said it showed an “irresistible inference” that Campbell’s offending wasn’t isolated.
The court heard Campbell, who worked as a personal trainer, recognised he made a “serious mistake”.
Despite Campbell’s counsel pushing for a home detention sentence, Judge Tracey sentenced him to three years and three months jail, with a non-parole period of 20-months.
“You have, for whatever reason, involved yourself in serious offending that contributed no doubt to the damage that drugs cause to individuals, their families, and the community more broadly,” she said.
“Hardship to your partner and family is a tragic but inevitable consequence of almost every conviction and penalty recorded in a criminal court.”
KIVEN KEOHEUANGPRASEUT
A body builder turned Discord drug dealer was exposed after his neighbour uncovered a cooler bag of his drugs in her yard.
Kiven Keoheuangpraseut, 22, went on to tell police a “tissue of lies” after panicking when he heard about the Operation Ironside busts and threw the drugs over the fence.
During sentencing, the District Court heard Keoheuangpraseut’s neighbour arrived home on June 7, 2021 and noticed a cooler bag along the side of her house.
When she opened the bag, she found a number of plastic containers and called the police.
The cooler bag contained six plastic tubs, containing a total of 82.6g of mixed methamphetamine, as well as 4.62g of cocaine, steroids and plastic resealable bags.
Keoheuangpraseut knocked on his neighbour’s door and said he had dropped a bag in their background and asked if he could retrieve it.
The neighbour told him he couldn’t come in and police had been called.
Police searched Keoheuangpraseut’s home and found more methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine and vials of steroids.
Keoheuangpraseut, of Munno Para West, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and one count of possessing prescription drugs.
“The defendant said that he would purchase the cocaine through a social media application called Discord,” Judge Paul Muscat said.
Giving evidence, Keoheuangpraseut told the court he purchased cocaine on Discord from a user called ‘Whiz KD’, who he’d never met.
Keoheuangpraseut said ‘Whiz KD’ told him to hold the cooler bag of drugs for him – which he left next to his car at the gym – in return for cocaine at a cheaper price.
Judge Muscat said he found Keoheuangpraseut’s evidence “utterly unconvincing, implausible” and a “tissue of lies”.
The court heard Keoheuangpraseut, who was born in New Zealand, took up body building in his teenage years, where he was introduced to steroids.
Keoheuangpraseut then started using cocaine and MDMA whenever he went to nightclubs, with his use escalating to an 8-ball of cocaine a week.
The court Keoheuangpraseut had since stopped using drugs.
Judge Muscat said Keoheuangpraseut had failed to accept responsibility for his offending.
He sentenced him to three years and eight months jail, with a non-parole period of one year and eight months.
KRYSTIAN GAWEL
A new father had an unlikely excuse for thousands of dollars’ worth of drugs after police found him lying in the middle of the road.
Krystian Gawel, 31, had only been on parole for six months before he was back to his old tricks.
The Adelaide District Court heard police found Gawel’s car abandoned on a footpath at Kurralta Park on December 4, 2020.
“You were found lying in the middle of a road about 150m from your vehicle, heavily under the influence of drugs,” Judge Heath Barklay said during sentencing.
Gawel’s car was searched and police found two mobile phones and 78 unused small plastic bags in the centre console.
Police also found five plastic resealable bags containing 2.59g of methamphetamine and three bags containing 15.24g of cocaine, as well as $315 and other drug dealing indicators.
Gawel told the court that he had confiscated the drugs from his friend whom he had been taking drugs with.
“The reason you confiscated her drugs was to stop her dealing drugs,” Judge Barklay said.
“You say your intention was to return the drugs … to her drug dealer.”
Judge Barklay said he did not accept that explanation and would sentence Gawel on the basis he was involved in street level drug dealing.
The court heard the methamphetamine was valued between $1295 and $2590 if sold in points and the cocaine was valued between $4500 and $6800 if sold in grams.
Gawel, of Welland, pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking.
The court heard Gawel began using cocaine and methamphetamine in his early 20s, before he suffered a tragedy in 2015 when his fiancee fell from a balcony and died in Turkey.
“As a result of the shock of that your methamphetamine use spiralled out of control,” Judge Barklay said.
That led Gawel to commit two drug trafficking offences, for which he was sentenced in 2017 and 2018.
The court heard Gawel began working as a crane operator when he was released on parole in July 2020 and met a new partner who fell pregnant.
“You were provided with a chance to reintegrate yourself into society upon your release on parole which you were obviously unable to achieve,” Judge Barklay said.
Adding on Gawel’s unexpired parole period, Judge Barklay sentenced him to six years and eight months jail, with a non-parole period of four years.
The sentence was backdated to December 4, 2020.
JAUN DANIEL LONDONO GOMEZ
Lured into a plot to import 75kg of cocaine via a leaky boat from Panama because he wanted to see his dying father in Colombia, Juan Londono-Gomez worked as a translator between the Adelaide organisers of the plot to facilitate the plan.
Londono-Gomez, 40, of Byron Bay pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug over the plot to bring a boat load carrying an estimated $18m worth of cocaine from Panama to Australia in 2014.
His role was as a translator between his alleged co-conspirators and a man in Panama known as “Julio”.
The District Court heard the plot fell apart when a young Australian man who was to be paid $250,000 to accompany the shipment - and ensure the cocaine-addicted captain did not consume the drug - got drunk and blabbed about the plan.
His loud mouth had caused an irreparable rift with the captain and the plan was abandoned.
The court had heard Londono-Gomez became involved because he needed money for a plane ticket to see his dying father in Colombia and arrived just hours before he died.
While there, he travelled to neighbouring Panama to set up a meeting between the boat’s captain and courier.
In sentencing, Judge Liesl Kudelka said Londono-Gomez’s role was “essential” but not at the top of the chain.
She jailed him for seven years and six weeks and set a non-parole period of four years. At the time of sentence, in February, he became immediately eligible for parole.
SALVATORE MERCORELLA
Stressed by family issues and suffering from spiralling mental health, fruit and veg shop worker Salvatore Mercorella turned to cocaine to help him get up in the morning.
At the peak of his addiction Mercorella was using a gram of cocaine a day and had to turn to selling the drug to maintain the habit.
He had been introduced to the drug by other fathers dealing with their children’s health issues.
On October 15, 2021 police searched Mercorella’s Paradise home.
They found 1.43g of cocaine in the house in a resealable bag along with $1400 in cash.
A man at the house – known only as “Chris” – also had 2g of cocaine in his pockets.
Inside Mercorella’s car 3.38g of cocaine along with $900 in cash.
District Court Judge Michael Burnett said Mercorella’s offending occurred against a background of other drug dealing.
However, the father of two turned his life around since the arrest and kicked his drug addiction.
Judge Burnett sentenced Mercorella to two years, 11 months and 22 days in prison with a non-parole period of 17 months.
The sentence was suspended once Mercorella entered into a good behaviour bond.
JASON WEI-JIE LY
In 2020, Jason Wei-Jie Ly was awarded the University of Adelaide Cyber Security award after receiving outstanding academic results in a Bachelor of Advanced Computer Science.
Two years later, Ly, 22, was filmed dealing drugs to other party goers on Hindley St in the heart of Adelaide.
About 1am on July 23, 2022, police stopped and searched Ly near the intersection of Peel St and Hindley St.
Security camera footage of the area showed Ly receiving money from a woman before placing an item in her mouth.
When searched by police Ly was found to have 8.75g of cocaine in his pocket as well as 11 prescription tablets designed to treat erectile dysfunction, 19 tabs of LSD, nine MDMA capsules and $395.
At Ly’s house police located 29 more prescription tablets.
Judge Ian Press said it was hard to understand how a high functioning student with an impressive work ethic and leadership qualities could make such a foolish decision.
“In light of your skills and your work ethic your future has some promising aspects to it,” he said.
“That you were prepared to jeopardise your future by offending in this way is not easy to understand.”
Ly was sentenced to one year, eight months and ten days with a non-parole period of one year and one month.
The sentence was suspended because of Ly’s age, lack of criminal history, early guilty plea and stable employment.
Originally published as South Australians busted for peddling cocaine
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