Australians convicted of drug offences involving cocaine

These are some of the Aussies who have been before Australian courts in cocaine-related charges. See the list of who’s been caught across the country.

A dentist addicted to cocaine; a wild bucks party; a lucrative dial a dealer scheme and a thwarted plan to smuggle cocaine into Australia disguised as coffee.

These are some of the cases involving cocaine that have appeared in Australian courts as people from all walks of life - young and old, wealthy and welfare dependant - who are part of Australia’s booming cocaine trade.

DR JAMES HANNA

Dr James Hanna was found guilty of unsatisfactory professional conduct after complaints by the Health Care Complaints Commission that arose from him being found to be in possession of cocaine and his failure to report his arrest to authorities.

In May 2012 NSW Police charged Dr Hanna with possession of 0.38 grams of cocaine. The offence was proven, but no conviction entered. In November 2020, Dr Hanna was again charged with possession of a prohibited drug, being 6.9 grams of cocaine.

The charge followed Hanna being pulled over by police in the small country town of Wallerawang

It was again proven, but he avoided a conviction and was placed on a two-year good behaviour order in February 2021.

Cosmetic dentist James Hanna was found in possession of 6.9g of cocaine in 2021

MEHBOOB SHAH and BALRAJ ATTRA

Mehboob Shah and Balraj Attra were found guilty of conspiring with each other and others to traffic a cocaine and were sentenced in March 2023.

The amount of cocaine was 233kgs or 185.5kgs pure with a purity of about 80 per cent.

The drugs were secreted within 233 aluminium ingots shipped from Mexico to Sydney.

Shah was jailed for 17 years with a non-parole period of 11 years, while Attra was jailed for 16 years with a non-parole period of 10 years.

Their involvement in the drug plot was in October and November 2019.

233kg of cocaine concealed in aluminium ingots seized. Two men were arrested for their alleged involvement in a 233kg cocaine importation from Mexico. The drugs were concealed in a shipment of aluminium alloy ingots. The quantity of cocaine seized has the equivalent hits of cocaine that could have affected more than 1.1 million drug users. Picture: AFP

DIAZ HERNANDEZ

Diaz Hernandez, from Colombia, was sentenced to a total of seven years and six months for his role in a plot to smuggle cocaine into Australia hidden in coffee.

A federal police raid of his Sydney home in September 2021 uncovered cocaine packaged in 35 kilograms of roasted coffee. What was found indicated a process had been undertaken using various chemical processes to extract the cocaine from the coffee.

Hernandez was sent a series of instructions about how to extract the cocaine from the coffee - and he succeeded.

‘It would appear that the offender was new to the process and in a sense naive about what was required of him. But as is obvious from what was found, he was ultimately able to extract over a kilo of pure cocaine from the coffee,” Judge Haesler said.

He will be eligible for parole in 2026.

Jesus Edelberto Diaz Hernandez, 41, arrested at his Port Kembla address by AFP in September, 2021 for involvement in 35.6kg Colombian cocaine importation. Picture: AFP

Cardboard boxes labelled "roasted coffee" allegedly contained 67 bags of coffee with a powdered substance inside from Colombia. Picture: AFP

NOURIL HASSOUN

Nouril Hassoun was jailed for his role in a text-for-cocaine scheme where a syndicate operated two “call centre” telephone services by which customers placed orders for cocaine, usually by text message.

It worked by the operators of the call centres in Croydon Park, Sydney connecting customers to drug runners, who typically supplied bags containing between 0.6 and 0.7 grams of cocaine, for $300 each.

The NSW Supreme Court found it operated about 150 transactions per week, producing about $60,000 per week in 2019.

Hassoun, who was a former private school teacher, was found to be responsible for managing the second call centre, taking orders, directing the runners to deliver orders, and organising the runners’ working arrangements.

He pleaded guilty to supplying 1.47 kilograms of cocaine and was sentenced to seven years jail.

KHALID KOCHAI

Khalid Kochai supplied an undercover police officer just over three kilograms of cocaine in exchange for unlawfully obtained cigarettes.

Kochai, who came to Australia as a refugee in 2000, purchased cigarettes and paid the agent $262,500. On six occasions, the applicant supplied the agent with cocaine in exchange for cash and cigarettes.

He first met the undercover officer in a cafe in Parramatta in 2018 and went on to met him 2 times.

At their last meeting, he offered to supply him with half a kilogram of cocaine in exchange for $110,000 worth of cigarettes.

“He was arrested before that sale took place and was found with 367.1 grams of cocaine, which he had intended to supply [the agent],” the court found.

He was sentenced in May 2022.

Kochai will have to spend six years in jail before being eligible for parole.

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THOMAS DEAN BOOKER

Thomas Dean Booker was jailed for 18 years with a non-parole period of 15 years after he pleaded guilty to 53 offences related to drug trafficking and money laundering in Adelaide.

It involved buying, selling and distributing illicit drugs, including cocaine, on the dark net under the username ‘underlinecost’.

Over almost two years from February 2020 to November 2021 Booker was involved in thousands of drug transactions, resulting in a profit of over $1.5 million.

KYLE LINDSEY BUTLER

Kyle Lindsey Butler pleaded guilty to aid, abet, counsel or procure commission of an offence, namely the attempted possession of a commercial quantity of cocaine, after he allowed a shipment of aluminium ingots to be stored in a warehouse that contained cocaine.

The offences were committed between February to March 2019, but he was not arrested until March 2021 after a search warrant at a Luddenham, NSW, address.

“The role of the offender was an essential one as it allowed the co-offenders to avoid detection, but he was less involved than any of the other co-offenders,” the judge stated.

He was jailed for six months.

Kyle Lindsey Butler.

SHANE MATHEW McPHERSON

Shane Mathew McPherson, 35, was sentenced at the Supreme Court at Rockhampton to two years imprisonment for supply and possession of cocaine and will be eligible for parole in June after almost eight months jail, including time served before sentencing.

He pleaded guilty to the offences in May 2022.

The supply charges related to McPherson’s intention to share the cocaine - about 20 grams worth - with his friends at a bucks party.

The possession charge related to while he was on a suspended sentence and he was pulled over by police.

A container in the vehicle’s centre console was found to contain 2.3 grams of pure cocaine.

DUSTIN WILLIAM RODWAY

Dustin William Rodway, a father of two from Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast, was sentenced at the Brisbane Supreme Court for trafficking in cocaine to his friends, colleagues and associates.

The court was told he profited about $1000 a week trafficking cocaine.

He could have been jailed for 25 years, but escaped with three-and-a-half years jail, wholly suspended for four-and-a-half years.

He pleaded guilty to 20 drug-related charges including trafficking in cocaine at street level between October 2021 to January 2022 and supplying drugs from August 2020 to July 2021.

Justice Melanie Hindman Rodway said he had been saved from serving actual prison time because of his early guilty plea, significant co-operation with police and lack of relevant criminal history.

She said he spiralled into selling drugs after starting to use them on a social basis.

Gold Coast builder Dustin Rodway.

DAVID EDWARD JOHN CAMPBELL

An Australian businessman was jailed for a minimum 10 and a half years for his role in a major cocaine plot.

David Edward John Campbell, 54, was found guilty in 2023 of conspiracy to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported cocaine, and sentenced to 18 years in jail.

Campbell will become eligible for parole, with time already served, in July 2028.

The NSW District Court heard Campbell was caught in a police sting in Belgrade when he was arrested in January 2018.

He and two others were trying to negotiate the return of 1.28 tonnes of cocaine.

However, the people they were trying to negotiate with were undercover police officers

He was extradited to Sydney where he eventually stood trial. A jury acquitted him of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, but found him guilty of participating in a conspiracy to possess the cocaine.

The sentencing judge Phillip Mahony SC dismissed suggestions from Campbell’s lawyers he was a “messenger boy” but found he was still only a low-level player who had acted under some “non-exculpatory duress”.

Originally published as Australians convicted of drug offences involving cocaine