George John Livanidis: Bakewell man guilty of meth importation scheme

A Palmerston man has pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to transport more than 110g of methamphetamine from the US to Darwin, hidden inside a device to enlarge penises.

Bakewell man George John Livanidis, 32. Picture: Facebook

A Palmerston man has pleaded guilty to his role in a scheme to transport more than 110g of methamphetamine from the US to Darwin hidden inside a silicone penis extender, a court has heard.

Bakewell man George John Livanidis, 32, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory last month to a commonwealth charge of attempting to import a marketable quantity of methamphetamine.

The court heard that on July 13 last year, an international mail consignment addressed to a parcel locker at Casuarina in Livanidis’ name was searched by Australian Border Force officers at the Australia Post Sydney Gateway Facility.

Officers discovered a “quantity of white crystals concealed within a silicone penis extender in a cardboard box” and replaced the crystals with an inert substance.

Livanidis has been jailed for attempting to import methamphetamine with a pure weight of more than 110g into Darwin from the United States. Picture: File

The crystals had a pure weight of 111.9g within a total substance weight of 139.4g.

On July 28, Livanidis collected the package from Casuarina and was arrested as he departed the post office.

The court heard an analysis of Livanidis’ phone uncovered a series of incriminating messages and it became apparent that Livanidis was acting at the behest of a shadowy figure known as ‘JK’.

It emerged that Livanidis had agreed to collect the parcel in exchange for a 28g cut of the haul, which he planned to either consume alongside his partner or on-sell for profit.

The court was told that the methamphetamine had a street value of between $139,400–$167,280.

Livanidis, the court was told, had been involved in a cascading series of drug activity, with eight previous convictions on his criminal record for drug offending, all of which were dealt with in the Local Court.

Defence counsel James Stuchbery submitted that his client was guilty of “volunteering his name and parcel locker”.

“Otherwise he had no involvement in the actual act of importation,” Mr Stuchbery said.

He said his client had a longstanding drug addiction and the 306 days he had spent remanded in pre-sentence custody had been especially onerous due to “rank overcrowding” at Holtze.

Mr Stuchbery further noted his client’s “guilt” for the “pain and distress” he had caused his mother, who was supporting Livanidis in court.

Justice Graham Hiley sentenced Livanidis to three years and six months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 21 months.