Sean Michael Pitts jailed for five years after police cannabis sting

A DISABILITY pensioner who was the Darwin connection for an interstate drug ring has been sentenced

Sean Michael Pitts has been jailed for five years for supplying cannabis

A DISABILITY pensioner who was the Darwin connection for an interstate drug ring has been sentenced to five years in jail.

Sean Michael Pitts, 54, was last month found guilty of two counts of taking part in the supply of a commercial quantity of cannabis and two counts of taking part in the supply of less than a commercial quantity of cannabis.

Pitts, who was living in a rental property at Parap, has been behind bars since August last year when a freight company in the northern suburbs of Adelaide reported a suspicious crate to South Australian police.

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Investigators substituted 21lb of the drug with potting mix and reported the delivery to NT Police.

Territory detectives planted a sophisticated listening bug in the wooden crate and watched Pitts pick up the delivery with a U-Haul trailer.

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Pitts was overheard making a phone call after opening the crate at his house, and telling an associate “it’s f*cking potting mix”.

The jury acquitted Pitts of the first two charges of supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis, finding there was reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s circumstantial case that all four shipments contained around 9kg of the drug.

The jury also acquitted Pitts of a charge of possessing tainted cash.

Pitts’s barrister, Ian Read SC said on Thursday that the trial “resolved, perhaps unexpectedly in his favour”.

Chief Justice Michael Grant said Pitts’s motivation was “obviously financial”.

“Your role in the operation was as the Darwin distributor,” he said.

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Chief Justice Grant said Pitts had shown no remorse for his conduct, and had been prepared to lie under oath to avoid responsibility for his actions.

He said Pitts was about to divide the drugs in vacuum seal bags when police stormed his house.

Pitts will be eligible for parole after three years and six months served.