Former stripper jailed for trafficking ice and cocaine in her bra

A 26-year-old woman has been sentenced for her role as a “worker” in a large-scale drug trafficking operation.

Alexandra Rose Kobelke has been jailed for at least 16 months after admitting her role in a Hobart drug trafficking operation.

A FORMER stripper caught about to smuggle $150,000 worth of drugs in her bra on a flight to Hobart has been jailed for at least 16 months.

Sydney woman Alexandra Rose Kobelke, 26, trafficked large amounts of ice and cocaine to Tasmania over a 13-month period, taking hundreds of thousands of dollars back to her home state, the court heard.

She was arrested at Sydney Airport in January this year as she was about to board a flight to Hobart, after making 13 trips between NSW and Tasmania, sometimes using a fake ID.

In the Supreme Court in Hobart on Wednesday, Chief Justice Alan Blow said Kobelke was a worker, not an entrepreneur or in control of the large-scale trafficking operation.

He added she was paid “much less than she was promised in cash” for trafficking the drugs, which she vacuum sealed to hide their smell.

Chief Justice Blow said Kobelke had pleaded guilty at an early stage, noting she had lived an “unfortunate life”.

He said her mother died when she was 12 because of long-term damage caused by drug abuse, started using drugs herself at age 13, and left her father’s home at 15 because of problems with her stepmother.

Kobelke subsequently worked in bars and as a stripper, and started using ecstasy and cocaine.

At the time of her arrest, Chief Justice Blow said, she was a daily user of cocaine.

Kobelke was nabbed following a police operation codenamed “Monet”, which used telephone intercepts, cameras, listening devices, physical surveillance and searched hotel rooms.

The home of one of her Sydney accomplices was searched, with police finding $14,000 in cash, replica firearms, multiple mobile phones and a taser.

On several occasions, Kobelke was under surveillance in Hobart and was seen engaging in large drug deals selling ice and cocaine worth tens of thousands of dollars.

On the way back to Sydney, her luggage was X-rayed and found to contain “large bundles of cash”, Chief Justice Blow said.

Kobelke pleaded guilty to trafficking in a controlled substance.

He sentenced Kobelke to two years and eight months in jail, backdated to March this year when she first went into custody.

She will be eligible for parole after serving 16 months.

Chief Justice Blow also ordered that $4000 seized in Kobelke’s Sydney apartment be forfeited to the state of Tasmania.