Behind the tragic downfall of Burnett drug dealer Mele Lineti Sanipepa Cross

Mele Cross was on a university scholarship but the loss of her brothers years earlier haunted her. Tragedy was to hit once more when 11 family members perished in Queensland’s most horrific house fire tragedy. Read the inside sting behind a young mum’s downfall.

From the outside it looked like a classic family home.

On the inside, it was the ground base for a lucrative drug operation which would ultimately come crashing down after months of police investigations.

The police operation which led to the arrest of drug trafficker Mele Lineti Sanipepa Cross at her Mundubbera home on September 9, 2021 was the result of a tragic story.

A bright and gifted young girl with huge academic potential, her life spiralled after a series of blows and life challenges.

Mele Cross turned to drugs and became enslaved by them, until she was eventually convicted of drug trafficking and a four year jail sentence wholly suspended.

At the of her arrest the 29-year-old mother allegedly had more than 40 customers across the Burnett.

Police found digital scales, a glass pipe, clip seal bags, a mobile phone and a reportedly stolen rental car at her home.

She was arrested, charged with 147 offences, including 139 counts of supplying dangerous drugs and one count of trafficking dangerous drugs in what police alleged was a highly developed drug “syndicate”.

At her Bundaberg Supreme Court sentencing on February 14, 2023, Cross pleaded guilty and was convicted of four offences, including drug trafficking and theft.

For the trafficking, she was sentenced to five years jail, wholly suspended, and a conviction was recorded. She was not further punished for the other offences.

Two of her associates were also arrested as part of Operation Konopie.

Just some of the firearms, ammunition, cash and drug supplies obtained by police during Operation Konopie.

SHE CLAIMED MORE THAN $60K FROM CENTRELINK

In the 18 month period between June 2020 and August 2021, Cross supplied cannabis and more than 60 grams of meth to her customers, making more than $100,000 while also feeding her own drug habits.

Police revealed she was well aware of the business she was conducting, and made efforts to avoid police during her regular trips to Brisbane and other areas to obtain drugs for her clients, and even employed others to drive her around to make sales.

Text messages between Cross and her husband revealed she accepted any payment for her wares, including a revolver and an AK-style rifle in exchange for meth.

Cross told her husband in the text exchange “I haven’t done this before, but it’s no different to any other thing anyone does for money”.

Cross’ husband was not charged with any crime in relation to the investigation and no allegations of wrongdoing are made in respect of him.

In her February 2023 Supreme Court appearance the court heard she claimed more than $60,000 from Centrelink as a single parent while sharing her family home with her working husband.

Mele Lineti Sanipepa Cross

BROTHERS KILLED IN HIT AND RUN TRAGEDY

Barrister Joseph Briggs told the court of the shattering personal history that had contributed to her drug dependency and subsequent dealing.

She had been born and raised in Australia under Tongan immigrant parents, who were said to be hardworking and caring.

Raised and schooled in Greenslopes as the youngest of five, Mr Briggs told the court Cross had shown “academic promise” from a young age.

She experienced her first taste of tragedy when she was 11 years old, when her two oldest brothers were killed in a hit and run, which remains unsolved to this day.

As a result of the family tragedy, Cross was sent to live with her extended family in New South Wales in the hopes she could put the distress of her loss behind her.

Barrister Joseph Briggs told the court Mele Lineti Cross had a passion and talent for music, which would lead to a scholarship at Griffith University.

By Year 10 she had returned to Slacks Creek Brisbane, where she lived with a number of family members and was a “gifted” musician. Her musical talents were so extensive she gained enrolment at Mabel Park High School, known at the time for its musical programs.

In August of 2011, after graduating from high school while still living with her extended family in Slacks Creek, Mr Briggs told the court Cross had decided to spend the night away from her family home.

She would return to find that home a ruin, burnt to the ground in one of the most horrific house fire tragedies the state had ever seen.

Flowers and tributes at the scene of the house fire, Wagensveldt Street, Slacks Creek, where 11 members of the family of Mele Lineti Sanipepa Cross died in 2011.

All 11 members of her family, many of whom were children, lost their lives to the tragedy that was ultimately not ruled suspicious.

Mr Briggs told the court Cross experienced an intense period of “survivors guilt” and after she entered Griffith University on a scholarship, she began experimenting with drugs to cope with the loss of her family.

That experimentation grew steadily into the addiction that would come to define her and destroy her life.

Since March 2021, there have been more than 4000 drug offences recorded across the Wide Bay Burnett, just a fraction of the 120,000 plus recorded across the state.

A 2020 report revealed that one Australian dies every four hours from a drug related death or overdose.

50 DRUG DEALERS NAMED AND SHAMED

Fifty drug dealers and traffickers who helped maintain the misery that drugs bring to this region were recently named and shamed.

Many, if not most, if not all, of those men and women battle their own destructive addictions, including Agnes Waters mum Shelly-Ann McShane.

McShane appeared in the Bundaberg Supreme Court in February 2023, and was convicted of eight months of low level trafficking where the court heard she sold drugs to fund her own addictions.

Hervey Bay man Beau James Beech was also arrested as part a drug dealing operation in 2022, and the court heard “he suffered from significant drug addiction”.

Beech was just one member of a drug dealing ring, which operated between Hervey Bay and Logan.

He was sentenced to 18 months in jail with immediate parole release after pleading guilty in Hervey Bay District Court to supplying dangerous drugs.

Another co-accused in the drug operation was Hervey Bay mum Mellessa Togo, who was arrested in 2022 for operating a drug dealing ring with more than 100 customers.

It was alleged Togo made 200 drug supply deals before her arrest.

She was sentenced to four and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking, and became eligible for parole in June 2021.

Police charged 14 people after shutting down an extensive marijuana operation at Isis Central, with almost 47,000 plants and seedlings found at the property in 2022.

ALMOST 50,000 MARIJUANA PLANTS UNCOVERED

The true scale and impact of Queensland’s ongoing drug scourge is difficult to measure, but a multimillion-dollar Isis drug bust in October of 2022, provided more than a glimpse into the underworld of drugs across the Wide Bay Burnett.

The extensive operation led by the Queensland Police Drug and Serious Crime Squad, with help from Bundaberg, Wide Bay and Childers police, uncovered a 46,894 Isis Central marijuana plantation operation.

Twelve people were charged as a result of that operation, where police gave evidence of a massive facility comprised of 51 green houses, each about 80m long.

The total value of the plants and seedlings found at the site was estimated to have a street value of more than $235 million.

Police allege 51 greenhouses about 80m long each were found on the property, all containing the drug.

Another major drug enterprise was brought down through Operation Rumpel, a 10-month long police investigation into the South Burnett drug dealing scene.

The investigation was launched in January 2022, and culminated in the arrest of a 51-year-old woman and 37-year-old man in Murgon on October 18.

The duo was charged with 192 counts of supplying dangerous drugs.

Thirty people were arrested as part of Operation Rumpel, and more than 240 charges laid after police used drug investigative strategies and public information to target their arrests.

Detective Sergeant Martin Hunter of Murgon thanked the community for its involvement in the operation at the time of the arrests.

“Operation Rumpel has put a significant dent in the drug trade in the area which has led to a safer community for both Murgon and Cherbourg,” Sgt Hunter said.

The results of a meth bust in Murgon as part of Operation Rumpel.

Short-term operations were also successful for Wide Bay Burnett police, including a three day road safety Operation Boa.

In the three days between May 19-22, 2022 five search warrants were acted upon on in Cherbourg as part of the operation, which led to six people being charged with possession of dangerous drugs and similar drug related charges.

MORE THAN 400 ROADSIDE TESTS

As part of the “borderless” operation between detectives and general duty officers from Murgon, Cherbourg, Darling Downs Tactical Crime Squad and the Road Policing Task Force, police conducted 409 roadside breath tests, issued 64 traffic infringements, and charged seven people.

One of the Wide Bay Burnett’s most recent successful police operations was Operation Konopie, a five-month investigation launched in July 2021, targeting drug supply, particularly methylamphetamine across Gayndah, Cherbourg, Nanango, Murgon, Kingaroy and Mundubbera.

Fifty-seven people were charged as a result of that operation and more than 400 charges were laid as police seized firearms, drugs, ammunition and cash.

Police used a number of methods to obtain information during that investigation, lawfully intercepting information, carrying out financial analysis and obtaining search warrants.

Originally published as Behind the tragic downfall of Burnett drug dealer Mele Lineti Sanipepa Cross