Grandfather Hugh Gorman turned drug mule after ‘financial pressure’

A decorated CFA firefighter who risked his life for the sake of a $14,000 pay cheque is now facing life behind bars for his role in an elaborate international drug plot.

The Cessna light aircraft that was purchased to import the drugs into Australia.

A Melbourne grandfather turned drug mule and went to the United States to purchase a light aircraft before ripping out seats so it could be loaded with more than 271kg of ice in a sophisticated international importation plot.

Hugh John Gorman, 74, even modified the plane to include extra fuel storage so he could fly the Cessna P210 Silver Eagle the 13,000km journey from California to Australia — all for what he says was going to be a $14,000 pay cheque.

But his wings were clipped after US authorities got whiff of the plan, seizing drugs from a storage unit in his name, and the plane from a Santa Rosa hangar.

The plane Gorman purchased in the US to carry the drugs to Australia.

The decorated CFA firefighter is now facing spending the rest of his life in jail after he pleaded guilty in Victoria’s County Court on Monday to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

The offending spanned from September 2016 to July 2017, with Gorman taking three trips to America in preparation.

The court heard he was dragged into the scheme by his accountant-turned long-time friend, Peter Caluzzi.

The prosecution allege both men were working for the syndicate’s ringleader, convicted drug trafficker Jim Soukoulis, who had not long before been released from his 12-year sentence over a major cocaine haul.

Caluzzi, 61, has pleaded guilty on the conspiracy charge, and other drug trafficking offending from 2013.

Some of the ice that was seized by US authorities.

Inside the plane that was going to be used in the drug plot.

The court heard Soukoulis remains on the run after disappearing while on bail in November last year.

His family filed a missing persons report but “there is no doubt in the prosecution’s mind that he has removed himself from the jurisdiction”, the prosecutor told the court.

The plot saw the three men and others who referred to themselves as “the boys” or “the crew” use encrypted BlackBerry devices to communicate — often in code — in a bid to avoid detection.

The court heard Soukoulis and Caluzzi directed Gorman how to clean the storage unit in the US once the drugs had been removed, how to pack the drugs so that they would not be damaged or discovered by drug sniffer dogs.

They also warned him not to carry any documentation such as receipts that could “create leads” for the authorities.

Jim Soukoulis is wanted by authorities after skipping his bail over the drug import.

When Gorman was arrested in Melbourne in July 2017, Australian Federal Police masqueraded as him, using his BlackBerry to continue messaging Caluzzi and Soukoulis about the importation.

The plot was for Gorman to first land on Lord Howe Island off the NSW coast, before then flying on to Bacchus Marsh airport in Melbourne’s northwestern suburbs.

Three satellite phones were purchased so they could all communicate on what County Court Judge George Georgiou described would have been an “arduous” solo journey for Gorman across the Pacific Ocean.

Barrister Richard Backwell said Gorman had got caught up in the criminal venture as he was under “financial pressure”.

He said Gorman being jailed would mark the completion of “his fall from grace” after being an upstanding citizen who had served his country, was a CFA member and was the recipient of the national emergency medal.

“He will spend what remains of his twilight years in prison,” he said.

The hearing continues on Wednesday where Caluzzi’s legal team will make submissions, before the pair will be sentenced in the New Year.