Woman tried to collect large number of ecstasy pills in express post to Glenorchy PO

A Hobart woman tried to collect a huge number of ecstasy pills from the Glenorchy post office, but police outsmarted her.

A Goodwood woman who tried to collect a parcel containing 3244 ecstasy tablets from the Glenorchy post office later admitted she’d made some “stupid decisions” for cash.

Ellen Lucia Smitti, 29, said she was to be paid $250 for receiving the parcel — worth up to $162,000 — and that it would only be in her possession for a short time.

In May last year, Australia Post workers detected “irregularities” in the express post package and it was seized by police.

Smitti went to the post office three times between May 11 and 16, inquiring about the package, before police arranged a substitute package to be sent in its place.

After Smitti collected the substitute package, officers searched her home and found the parcel along with 6.5 grams of cannabis on her mirror stand and 1.5 grams of cannabis in her bedside drawer.

They also located a sachet with 0.2 grams of ice in her handbag, two straws containing traces of the drug, and three smoking devices.

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When she was interviewed, Smitti said she was addicted to ice and cannabis but denied she was expecting to receive the MDMA parcel.

A Goodwood woman was caught trying to collect a large number of ecstasy tablets.

But a few hours later, she admitted she knew about the parcel and said her financial situation had made her make “stupid decisions”.

She pleaded guilty to a trafficking charge along with drug use and possession charges.

Acting Justice David Porter, sentencing Smitti on Thursday, said the parcel had a potential value between $97,320 and $162,200.

He added Smitti’s father had died when she was 26 and that in her “profound grief”, she’d turned to illicit substances for comfort.

She left her job as a hotel supervisor when her situation deteriorated and her drug use increased.

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“I am told that her financial situation and living arrangements were such that she was quite desperate for money,” Acting Justice Porter said.

“Found on her phone was a text message to the person named as the principal offender, saying: ‘If you know of anyone that needs anything done for cash, I’m their girl’.

He said Smitti didn’t realise the quantity of drugs involved, but was “completely reckless” as to the amount of type of substance.

“Without people being prepared to assist at relatively low levels in the importation and distribution of drugs, it would be much more difficult for those higher up in the hierarchy to carry on their criminal activities,” he said.

Acting Justice Porter gave Smitti a 10-month suspended sentence with a 12-month community correction order, including 50 hours of community service.