Dodgy drug cop Jye Symes to face prison after doctoring incriminating evidence against woman

A former detective senior constable has admitted to tampering with forensic evidence to wrongly lay charges against a woman as part of a major international drug ring investigation.

A drug cop will face prison for falsifying incriminating evidence against a woman in a major investigation. Picture: Stock

A dirty drug cop will be imprisoned for inventing incriminating evidence against a woman who wrongly faced being jailed for up to 25 years.

Former detective senior constable Jye Symes of the Major Drug Squad has admitted to falsifying forensic evidence reports to secure commercial drug trafficking charges against Leyna Thai in 2021.

Ms Thai had no other evidentiary links to the suburban drug trafficking racket when she was charged by the corrupt detective and she has since launched legal action against the force which withdrew all charges against her.

Details of Mr Symes’ extraordinary breach of public trust in office were aired in the County Court on Friday, where the ex-cop wept as Judge Michael Cahill denounced his crimes as serious and deserving of jail time.

The former detective wept in court as his crimes were deemed deserving of jail time. Picture: NewsWire

Mr Symes, 37, was a lead detective of “Operation Roadtrip” which was investigating an international drug ring selling narcotics over the dark web hidden inside children’s toys sent in the post.

Muhamed Elkadi was charged over the drug operation, with Ms Thai also in police sights as she was listed as a tenant at the Cairnlea drug house.

The court heard then-detective Symes doctored a DNA report and handwriting analysis report compiled by two forensic scientists to lay charges against Ms Thai, whose DNA was not recorded in the police database to enable comparisons.

The corrupt cop altered the reports to state Ms Thai’s DNA was on latex gloves found in a drug preparation area of the Cairnlea home and her handwriting was comparable to that found on envelopes seized during the drug raid.

The corrupt cop altered reports to charge Layna Thai on commercial drug trafficking charges. Picture: Stock

His deceptions were uncovered by lawyers after Ms Thai was locked up on commercial drug trafficking charges, which carry a maximum term of 25 years imprisonment.

Mr Symes was arrested in March this year and his Reservoir home raided as part of a Professional Standards Command investigation.

Police uncovered incriminating files on his work laptop including amendments to forensic reports to incriminate Ms Thai and various signature samples for the handwriting expert who no longer worked for the force.

The court heard Mr Symes acted in “self-preservation” after the forgeries by attempting to resolve the matter by dropping the drug trafficking charges to drug possession charges — but not withdrawing them altogether.

His defence lawyer Theo Kassimatis KC said the ex-detective’s deceptions were driven by a combination of factors including workload pressure and poor mental health.

The court heard Mr Symes is remorseful for his actions, which cost his 15-year policing career and jeopardised public trust in the integrity of the force.

Now a full-time carer of his two children aged three and seven, Mr Symes elected to be remanded in custody over the weekend ahead of his sentencing on Monday for a single charge of misconduct in public office.