Painter Joseph Roy Wallner, 22, behind bars after smuggling ice into Hobart Airport in his underpants

A MAN who tried to smuggle up to $250,000 worth of ice through Hobart Airport in his underpants has been jailed.

A sniffer dog at Hobart Airport found ice with an estimated street value of up to $250,000 in painter Joseph Roy Wallner’s underpants.

A MAN who tried to smuggle up to $250,000 worth of ice through Hobart Airport in his underpants has been jailed.

Painter Joseph Roy Wallner, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking a controlled substance and two of travelling under a false name.

Wallner flew from Hobart to Sydney in July paying a man he knew only as “Humphrey Bear” $28,000 for some methamphetamine.

MORE: DRUG MULE BOUGHT DRUGS FROM ‘HUMPHREY BEAR’

He flew back to Hobart the same day and was caught by a Tasmania Police dog who sniffed the ice in Wallner’s underpants.

After a search, Wallner produced two bags contain about 259g of ice — estimated to have a potential street value of between $186,000 and $249,000.

Sentencing Wallner today in the Hobart Supreme Court, Justice Helen Wood said he stood to profit between $66,500 and $186,750 depending how the drugs were on sold.

Justice Wood said Wallner had resorted to trafficking after falling into debt with drug dealers.

She said he took seriously the threats made against him and his family because of the drug debt.

Justice Wood took into account his good prospects for reform and lack of prior record but said ice was a drug having a devastating impact on the community.

She sentenced him to one year in jail, backdated to July 1 this year, and suspended the last four months of the sentence.

Originally published as Painter Joseph Roy Wallner, 22, behind bars after smuggling ice into Hobart Airport in his underpants