Ice user Duc Van Nguyen says he turned to dealing to pay his drug debts

A RESTAURATEUR who began using the drug ice to offset the fatigue of long working hours ended up becoming a drug dealer with turnover in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a court has heard.

A SANDY BAY restaurateur who began using the drug ice to offset the fatigue of long working hours ended up becoming a drug dealer with turnover in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, a court has heard.

In the Supreme Court in Hobart on Friday, Duc Van Nguyen, 33, pleaded guilty to four counts of trafficking in a controlled substance and two counts of dealing with the proceeds of crime.

Crown Prosecutor Jack Shapiro told the court the defendant was the former proprietor of Duc’s Asian Cuisine.

He said that in April 2015, police had searched his premises and found cash, ice pipes, mobile phones, cocaine, Sudafed and dexamphetamine tables, snaplock bags and electronic scales.

After testing positive for ice, Nguyen told police he had used the drug up to three times a week for six years, despite his wife’s disapproval, because it gave him energy to work long hours.

But he also said he bought small quantities for other users which he sold without making a profit.

After being granted bail, he was caught the following night at the Domain in a car with multiple snaplock bags containing ice and a quantity of cash.

In October 2015, he was found in a Claremont house where police found items including drugs and drug paraphernalia, cash, two handguns and drug dealer’s “tick sheets” with around $240,000 in sales recorded.

Nguyen’s car outside was searched and ice pipes, a police scanner, scales and an extendible baton were found.

The prosecutor said police found another pistol and ammunition in a safe at Nguyen’s home.

Ms Shapiro said a phone seized from the accused indicated he had been selling drugs.

In August 2016, he was caught with more ice, some other drugs, a “phone Taser”, a large knife, tick sheets recording drug deals totalling $89,000 and $17,600 in cash near the Sandy Bay foreshore.

He admitted to police he had been dealing ice, saying he had run up $131,000 in drug debts and was trying to pay them back by dealing.

Mr Shapiro said the amounts of methamphetamine seized from Nguyen totalled 273 grams, worth up to $273,000 on the street and that the total amount of his drug dealing was estimated at between $200,000 and $300,000.

He said the crimes were aggravated by the large amounts of drugs, the presence of firearms and the fact the offences continued while Nguyen was on bail.

Defence Counsel Greg Richardson said his client had arrived in Australia as a refugee aged nine following the deaths of his brother, sister and father in Vietnam.

He said his client, who had no relevant prior conviction, started using drugs in his early 20s.

“Ice helped him work without sleep,” he said.

“Of course the problem with ice is that it gets its hooks into you and you become addicted.”

Mr Richardson said Nguyen had addressed his drug habit during the 22 months he had spent in jail awaiting sentencing.

Acting Justice Pierre Slicer will sentence Nguyen next Wednesday.