Benjamin Sara: Appeal against Sydney heroin plotter’s sentence fails

The “middle man” in a plot to smuggle 18kg of pure heroin into the country is on track for release next year after an appeal against a judge’s ruling was dismissed.

Benjamin Allan Sara, 31, of Greenacre. Benjamin Sara was one of the 15 cocaine players in the sophisticated international cocaine smuggling syndicate undone by detectives.

A Sydney entrepreneur jailed over a failed plot to import 18kg of pure heroin into Australia could be out in 18 months, after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal against his “inadequate” sentence.

Benjamin Alan Sara acted as the middle man in a drug network – referred to as the Fiji Conspiracy – planning to smuggle in the bounty from the Melanesian island between August 2014 and January 2015.

In December Judge Warwick Hunt sentenced Sara to seven years and six months in prison, with a five-year non-parole period, finding his role to be important but not essential to the syndicate.

The Crown launched an appeal against the sentence and argued before the Court of Criminal Appeal it was manifestly inadequate as punishment for Sara’s criminality.

Benjamin Allan Sara liked to live the fast life before his arrest.

It had argued on sentencing last year the 34-year-old had been the main point of contact between the Australian arm of the conspiracy and its overseas accomplices, and performed a high-level co-ordination role.

Paul McGuire SC told the Supreme Court on April 29 Judge Hunt had made several errors when handing down his judgment, who found Sara pulled out of the failed operation voluntarily.

Judge Hunt ruled that a text message sent by the Greenacre man on 13 January 2015 to an undercover operative known as Aaron showed he was no longer actively involved in the conspiracy.

“Hi mate, I think you have the wrong person, there’s more than one person uses this phone, but I have an idea who you’re talking about,” Sara wrote.

“I’ll pass on the message or you can get this Italian guy to contact your friend.”

Benjamin Sara, with now ex-wife Stephanie.

Mr McGuire argued that came only after Fijian authorities had seized the drugs bound for Australia on December 20, 2014, and his offer to pass on the message showed a continued involvement.

He also disputed a ruling Sara did not stand to gain a “substantial” financial reward for his involvement, claiming he stood to rake in about $456,000 if the plot was successful.

On Wednesday the Supreme Court justices Tom Bathurst, Clifton Hoeben and Ian Harrison dismissed the appeal and backed Judge Hunt’s ruling.

Agreed facts reveal other members of the five-man plot included Joseph Pirrello, who was in 2018 jailed for 14 and a half years for his role in one of Australia’s largest cocaine importation plots.

Police seized about 150kg of the drug when an inflatable dinghy pulled up to a boat ramp in Brooklyn, north of Sydney, on Christmas Day 2016.

Sara will be eligible for parole on December 26, 2021.