Former Warwick football star Jaime John Abbas sentenced over meth trafficking scheme

A former footballer with a bright future ahead of him hit rock bottom when police found commercial quantities of meth down his pants.

Jaime John Abbas, 29, was sentenced in Toowoomba Supreme Court this week for trafficking meth through small town Goondiwindi. Picture: Facebook

A former Warwick footballer set for success trafficked methylamphetamine through his small town, making thousands in a matter of weeks, a court has been told.

On October 12, 2023 former Warwick footballer Jaime John Abbas, 29, was found in possession of 26.41g of pure methamphetamine stuffed in his underwear when police responded to a suspicious vehicle stopped on the side of Donovan’s Rd at Leyburn.

Discoveries by NSW and Queensland police revealed the full extent of Abbas’s trafficking scheme covering Goondiwindi and Boggabilla.

The Warwick man appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court from prison on Thursday and pleaded guilty to trafficking of a dangerous drug and possession of a dangerous drug in excess of 2g.

The court was told Abbas supplied or offered to supply methamphetamine seven times over three weeks before his arrest.

While the majority of transfers were said to be of minor weights, on at least one occasion Abbas supplied an eight-ball, weighing roughly 3.5g, and on another pushed his customer to purchase a full gram in order to qualify for a discount.

“You were approached by customers who wished to obtain supplies, you also contacted customers yourself and made offers,” Justice Thomas Bradley KC detailed to the court.

Police found Abbas had included others in his scheme, once asking an acquaintance to drive him to a drop off as he was unlicensed at the time.

Prosecution also claimed Abbas was owed around $4450 from customers and intermittently bragged about the money he had made.

Jaime John Abbas pleaded guilty before Toowoomba Supreme Court for drug trafficking and possession. Photo: Deanna Millard/Warwick Daily News

“(He referenced) having purchased an ounce of methamphetamine, sold it and made two grand on top of that,” Crown prosecutor Emily Coley said.

“That gives (the court) a sense of the intensity in that short period of time.”

Abbas was on bail for other serious offences, including supplying a dangerous drug, at the time of the offending.

He has been remanded in custody since his arrest.

Abbas’s barrister Jessica Goldie said his criminal convictions, dating back to 2020, stemmed from a drug addiction.

“He was on track to perform quite well, after his schooling he went to university and was part way through a Bachelor of Business,” she said.

“Really, the drug addiction is what was his undoing – he was introduced to drugs at university, this developed into methamphetamine use and that became an addiction.”

Ms Goldie said the former athlete had worked hard to combat his issues while in prison.

“It’s not just (drug and rehabilitation) courses he’s been involved in, he’s been working consistently, he’s classified as a low security prisoner so he obviously performs quite well,” she said.

“He’s no longer thinking about drugs.

“He has that ability to improve his life and progress forward if he can abstain from drug use.”

Justice Bradley implored Mr Abbas to take charge of his drug addiction, or suffer the consequences.

“You’ve had many benefits growing up but you also had many difficulties,” he said.

“You need to be able to rely upon whatever social support is available to you.

“There are clever people and you should take advantage of the help that they can offer.”

Abbas was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, to sit atop a four-and-a-half year sentence ordered earlier this year for property offending.

He will be eligible for parole on June 30, 2025.