Darwin ‘family man’ jailed over commercial drug racket involving ‘roughly 100lb’ of cannabis
A ‘GOOD family man’ who imported ‘roughly 100lb or more of cannabis’ into Darwin along with his partner in the criminal enterprise has been jailed for at least seven years
Police & Courts
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A “GOOD family man” who imported “roughly 100lb or more of cannabis” into Darwin along with his partner in the criminal enterprise has been jailed for at least seven years.
Michael Scott Wilson Anderson, 29, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of one count of supplying a commercial quantity of the drug during a period of almost a year in 2016.
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The court heard Wilson Anderson and his co-accused, Jason Taylor, sourced the cannabis from a supplier in Adelaide and sold it in Darwin for $4500 a pound, sharing a $1000 profit on each pound between them.
In sentencing, Justice Judith Kelly said sometimes the men’s supplier would deliver the drugs to Darwin and at other times they would travel to Adelaide to stock up.
“You would bring back five or six boxes on a run, each containing eight to 10 pounds of cannabis, sometimes 12,” she said.
“Not long before you were arrested, Jason Taylor was stopped outside Katherine and found to be carrying approximately $310,000 which was the proceeds of the sale of cannabis.”
Justice Kelly said in December 2016, Wilson Anderson hired another man to drive him to Adelaide where they picked up another 9kg of cannabis and he bought a second hand Mitsubishi Lancer.
“You drove the red Lancer ahead of the grey Prado on the return trip from Adelaide to Darwin to detect and warn (him) of any police presence and also to ensure that you wouldn’t be in the car with the cannabis if the grey Prado was stopped and searched,” she said.
“Both cars were in fact stopped by police at Mataranka and searched.
“The 9kg of cannabis was found in the grey Prado and you and (he) were both arrested and charged.”
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In jailing Wilson Anderson for 10 years with a non-parole period of seven years, Justice Kelly said cannabis “does a lot of damage”, particularly in Aboriginal communities.
“The quantities of cannabis you brought into Darwin, there is a real risk that it may have ended up in Aboriginal communities,” she said.
But Justice Kelly said Wilson had no criminal history and references tendered to the court described him as “a good family man”.
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