Tradie turned pill-pushing trafficker Matthew David Harwood, 32, jailed

A Cairns tradie and soccer player with links to Mongrel Mob bikies in Far North Queensland turned to pushing party pills after a bad break-up, selling more than 500 tablets of MDMA, a court has heard.

Matthew David Harwood, 32, pleaded guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court to four drug charges, including trafficking MDMA and selling cocaine and morphine on the side.

A Cairns tradie and soccer player with links to Mongrel Mob bikies in Far North Queensland turned to pushing party pills after a bad break-up and sold more than 500 tablets of MDMA, a court has heard.

Matthew David Harwood, 32, pleaded guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court to four drug charges, including trafficking MDMA and selling cocaine and morphine on the side.

Crown prosecutor Matt Hancock told the court Harwood was identified as part of Operation Amaranth targeting cocaine and MDMA in the Cairns region.

“He was identified as a person of interest after police investigations into members and affiliates of the Mongrel Mob outlaw motorcycle gang, namely the president Tyrone Auda and one of the runners,” Mr Hancock said.

The court heard police executed a search warrant at Harwood’s address, where two MDMA pills were located and his phone was seized, revealing his trafficking operation.

The phone information identified a large number of supplies of MDMA as well as supplies of cocaine and morphine organised over Snapchat, Facebook Messenger and text.

“He advertised a photo of 50 MDMA tablets, later telling a customer he had four left,” Mr Hancock said.

Another message exchange referenced “Marios”, a name given to the red tablets shaped in the face of the Nintendo game character.

Mr Hancock said that based on sale information and bank deposits, police were able to estimate the sale of about 553 tablets worth more than $15,000.

Matthew Harwood played and volunteered with the Stratford Dolphins Football Club. Picture: Emily Barker

The prosecutor told the court references to sales of larger amounts were also recorded on Mr Harwood’s phone.

One conversation between Harwood and the Mongrel Mob president referenced a debt from the runner of $12,000 and a “batch” of 500 tablets.

“So there was some wholesale movements,” he said.

In a police interview Harwood largely denied the extent of his trafficking.

A Cairns tradie with links to Mongrel Mob bikies in Far North Queensland turned to pushing party pills after a bad break-up selling more than 500 tablets of MDMA, a court has heard.

Defence counsel James Sheridan told the court Harwood had no criminal history at the time of the offending and fell into party drugs around the time the offending commenced after a break-up but was previously well behaved and respected in the community.

He told the court Harwood played and volunteered with the Stratford Football Club.

Mr Sheridan said most of the offending was “largely street level amounts”.

“It is an unfortunate blip in an otherwise blameless life,” Mr Sheridan said.

Justice James Henry said the man was an “improbable candidate” coming from a supportive family and said the type of offending was usually “the realm of younger men in their early twenties”.

“There is some sense there was some egotistical attraction to being the one selling the drugs in that scene,” he said.

Justice Henry said the lack of history and the man’s efforts towards rehabilitation warranted some mitigation in sentence, which he set at three years, with a parole release date in March 2026.

Originally published as Tradie turned pill-pushing trafficker Matthew David Harwood, 32, jailed