Brody Thomas Saunders pleads guilty to trafficking drugs to King Island

A young Burnie man was paid in ice to take the drug to King Island for distribution, but when he arrived, police were waiting for him. Here’s what happened when he went to court.

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A young Burnie man was paid in ice to take the drug to King Island for distribution, a court has heard.

Brody Thomas Saunders, 20, appeared in the Burnie Magistrates Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to trafficking and failing to state his source of supply.

The court heard Saunders was aged 18 in September 2022 when he boarded a plane to the remote Tasmanian island with an unknown quantity of ice in his bag.

After a tip-off, police were waiting for him at Currie where he was searched and he handed over two small zip lock bags of ice from his wallet.

King Island Airport.

Police then searched his checked luggage and found 26.1 grams of ice.

The court heard the street value of the drug, if sold by the point, was $26,000.

Saunders told police he received the small packages from his dealer as payment to bring the big package to King Island.

He told police he had not handled the larger package, and was unaware how much of the drug was in it.

He also said his dealer was a man from Devonport, but refused to tell them any other details.

The court heard Saunders had become a father in the time since the offence, and had worked to cease his use of illicit substances but still used when socialising with certain people.

The court heard Saunders, who now works as a wrecker, grew up around drugs and began smoking cannabis at 13.

Magistrate Katie Edwards said trafficking was an “extremely serious matter” and requested a pre-sentence report to consider whether Saunders was eligible for a therapy program offered as part of a community corrections order.

He will be sentenced on May 31.