Drug trafficker slammed for ‘audacious’ importing plot

A former Hobart man who arranged to import cocaine and MDMA worth tens of thousands of dollars from Queensland has faced court.

A HOBART drug trafficker has been slammed for his “audacious” use of a courier to transport tens of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine into Tasmania — wrapped in methylated spirits and coffee to mask them from detection.

Mitchell John Campbell, 32, was jailed for a minimum of two years and three months in the Supreme Court of Tasmania Thursday, after pleading guilty to two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance during 2017 and 2018.

Justice Michael Brett said Campbell instigated and arranged the importation of MDMA and cocaine from Queensland on a number of occasions. In one instance, Campbell arranged for 73.6g of cocaine to be sent to via post, and on another occasion arranged for a man to bring 167.7g of cocaine into the state by plane. Campbell also arranged a former girlfriend to collect 3244 MDMA tablets by post.

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Justice Brett noted the drugs equated to a “significant potential profit” – with one seizure alone having a potential value of $120,000.

He said Campbell’s methodology involved “some level of sophistication” with the use of encryption services.

“The use of a courier was particularly audacious,” Justice Brett said, adding that police also found two firearms located in a wall cavity at Campbell’s parents’ property.

Justice Brett accepted Campbell’s own drug habit was a motivator behind his crimes, but said the potential value of the drugs and the profit to be made had to be taken into account.

“I don’t think you were accruing large quantities of wealth off this, but I think you were living off the operation,” he said. Campbell has previous drug trafficking convictions, copping a suspended jail term in 2011 and a prison sentence that he was immediately released from in 2017.

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Justice Brett sentenced him to four years and six months jail, backdated to June 2018, with a non-parole period of half that time. Campbell must also pay $20,000 in compensation for drug analysis.

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