Burnie woman pleads guilty to drug and firearm trafficking

A major link in the methamphetamine trade in the North West who moved up to $70,000 in ice over a five-week period has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and selling stolen firearms.

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AN addict who moved up to $70,000 in ice over a five-week period has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and selling stolen firearms.

The Supreme Court in Burnie heard Zoe Leanne Whiley, 38, of Acton, was a major link in the methamphetamine trade in the North West before she was arrested in March.

Whiley was on bail for drug offences when police swooped on her home, found drugs in her handbag, down her bra and in the shed along with ice pipes, scales and zip-lock bags.

Whiley, who is already in Mary Hutchens Women’s Prison serving a 12-month jail term for assault, told police she had trafficked ice, not to make large sums of money, but to support her own habit.

She told police three to four ounces of ice would move through her hands each week and that she had four or five regular sub-dealers who would then onsell to local addicts.

Zoe Leanne Whiley pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and selling stolen firearms in the Burnie Supreme Court. Photo: Facebook

Whiley’s lawyer told Justice Robert Pearce she was covering her costs, her use and giving “shouts” to people who drove her around to carry out her trade.

Crown Prosecutor Katie Edwards told the court it was a high-level commercial business in which a serious amount of methamphetamine was turned over.

Whiley also pleaded guilty to trafficking in firearms in relation to three firearms stolen from a Boat Harbour property in January this year.

The stolen guns were brought to her house before they were sold on to “someone with a long list of firearm offending,” the court was told.

In the same court on Thursday, Tamara Reeve, 32, pleaded guilty to stealing those guns and other property from the Boat Harbour address and she will be sentenced next month.

Justice Pearce indicated Whiley was looking at a substantial term of imprisonment and he would also decide if she would pay back the money earned from her drug trafficking.

Whiley’s lawyer told the court his client had PTSD from a past sexual assault and domestic violence and was working in prison to better manage these traumas by means other than using illicit substances.

She will be sentenced on September 18.