Hugh Gorman and Peter Caluzzi jailed over US drug plane importation plot

A great-grandfather who received a bravery medal for his courage in Black Saturday was hiding a huge drug secret from his family.

Hugh Gorman and Peter Caluzzi have been jailed over a daring plot to fly drugs from the US to Australia.

A great-grandfather who received a bravery medal for his courage in fighting the Black Saturday bushfires has been jailed for at least eight years for his role in an sophisticated international drug importation plot.

Hugh Gorman, 75, and co-conspirator Peter Caluzzi, were on Tuesday jailed for their plans to fly 271kg of ice from the United States into Australia via a light aircraft in 2017.

Gorman, a former CFA volunteer and trained pilot, travelled to California on three occasions in 2017 to purchase a Cessna P210 Silver Eagle and collect the drugs, worth an estimated street value of up to $118 million.

He even ripped out seats in the plane to help store more fuel loads to make the 13,000km journey, County Court Judge George Georgiou said.

Caluzzi, 61, was sentenced to at least 11 years for his role in organising the logistics of the high-stakes plot, financing the purchase of the Cessna plane and an earlier drug trafficking charge.

Inside the Cessna plane used to collect the drugs.

More than 271kg of ice was involved in the drug plot.

Judge Georgiou accepted the longtime friends were acting on the instructions of a third man – convicted drug trafficker Jim Soukoulis – who has been on the run since November 2019.

Syndicate ringleader Soukoulis skipped town on a $900,000 surety, which included his mother’s home, and there is an active warrant for his arrest.

Judge Georgiou found Gorman and Caluzzi had played key roles in the conspiracy operation and their criminality was of a “high order”.

Syndicate ringleader Jim Soukoulis has been on the run since November 2019.

During the offending which spanned 10 months from September 2016, Gorman made three trips to America in preparation and the men purchased satellite phones to use while the pensioner flew the contraband over the Pacific Ocean.

US drug detectives discovered the illicit drugs – 240 times the commercial quantity – in suitcases in a storage unit near San Francisco in June and later seized the Cessna aircraft at Santa Rosa airport.

Judge Georgiou said both men were motivated by greed and rejected Gorman’s claims he was only set to pocket $14,000 for his role in the scheme.

The men pleaded guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of drugs, a charge which carries a potential sentence of life imprisonment.

The court heard character references were tended on both men’s behalf and the pair had showed varying degrees of remorse.

Judge Georgiou took into account Gorman and Caluzzi’s age, health issues and fair prospects of rehabilitation.

Gorman was sentenced to a maximum 14 years behind bars, while Caluzzi was sentenced to a maximum 17 years for his role in the conspiracy and a drug trafficking offence from 2013.

The men have already served about nine months behind bars.

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