Daniel John McLachlan guilty of trying to bring Suboxone into Townsville Correctional Centre

A man has been jailed for attempting to import a large quantity of Suboxone into the Townsville men’s prison – and is one of the first convicted here over smuggling this cult drug.

Daniel John McLachlan pleaded guilty to supplying drugs to a correctional centre.

A man has been jailed for attempting to import a large quantity of Suboxone into the men’s prison at Townsville Correctional Centre – and is one of the first convicted here over smuggling this cult drug.

Suboxone is the brand name for Buprenorphine – a prescription opiate used to help wean people off ice and heroin.

Police detectives and corrections intelligence officers are working to tackle this relatively new, virtually undetectable drug plaguing Queensland prisons.

Police have seen the black market drug trade spread in jails across the state over the last two years.

Daniel John McLachlan.

On Tuesday, Daniel John McLachlan, 25, pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying the dangerous drug Buprenorphine to a correctional facility and four counts of illegally making conference calls from within the prison while a prisoner.

The court heard that police intercepted 99 strips of the drug, known in the prison world as ‘subbies’, at an Australia Post facility in Townsville on November 29, 2022.

They also found another 100 strips of Suboxone during a search of his mother’s house on December 4, 2022.

The drug is like gold in the prison black market world and is worth at least $300 per strip, meaning McLachlan had subbies worth at least $60,000 on the black prison market.

McLachlan is one of at least 19 prisoners in the Townsville Correctional Centre charged with drug offences last year relating to ‘subbies’.

Prosecutor PJ Newman said McLachlan had a seven-page criminal history that included 40 convictions for drug offences that included trafficking.

Judge William Everson described him as a ‘recidivist drug offender at a very young age’.

He sentenced McLachlan to two years’ jail with immediate parole eligibility, taking into account the 205 days he had served on remand.

Detective Senior Sergeant Phil Watts. Picture: Evan Morgan

In a Townsville Bulletin special report last year, Detective Senior Sergeant Phil Watts, officer-in-charge of the Northern Major and Organised Crime Squad, said it was ‘extremely difficult’ to detect Buprenorphine because it comes in a thin, clear patch and is very easy to conceal.

The drug dissolves under the tongue.

Prisoners are using nappies, food and laundry to smuggle the drugs in at the jail in Townsville, according to inside sources.

Prison sources said family members were often smuggling the drug into the prison, or arranging elaborate drops.

They maintained that there are hundreds of prisoners at the TCC suffering from addiction to methamphetamine and experts said the withdrawal symptoms can be severe.

Originally published as Daniel John McLachlan guilty of trying to bring Suboxone into Townsville Correctional Centre