Gold Coast woman weeps at sentence for biggest drug trafficking in Tasmanian history

It was the biggest drug trafficking operation in Tasmanian history – with 26kg of ice hidden in car tyres. Now, the Gold Coast woman who made it happen has discovered her fate.

Gold Coast woman Jacqueline Fiala, 50, has been jailed after overseeing the trafficking $26 million worth of ice into Tasmania. It's the state's biggest drug trafficking case in history. Picture: Facebook

A Gold Coast woman will spend up to 15 years in a Tasmanian jail for facilitating the state’s biggest drug trafficking case in history.

Grandmother Jacqueline Pauline Fiala, 50, wept in the docks of the Supreme Court of Tasmania on Friday as her sentence was handed down for her role in the 18-month racket.

The court heard that between November 2019 to May 2021, Fiala had oversight of the movement of 26kg of ice from Queensland into Tasmania – with a potential street value of $26 million.

She also arranged the trafficking of up to $321,000 worth of cocaine, and up to $6480 worth of ketamine.

Justice Stephen Estcourt said Fiala answered to a man she referred to as “the boss” – and organised the trafficking of drugs in car tyres via 13 different couriers on the Spirit of Tasmania.

“It was a sophisticated operation,” he said.

“It was an operation aimed at generating very significant profits.”

However, the judge said there was no evidence Fiala lived an opulent lifestyle as a result of her offending, and she had claimed she only became “embroiled” after trying to help her son out of a modest drug debt.

She claimed she felt she “had no choice but to comply” with the demands of the “boss”, and began taking drugs herself – with all the profits going back to the top of the chain.

Justice Estcourt said Tasmania Police and the Australian Federal Police established “Operation Carnegie” in December 2020 to investigate the transportation of methamphetamine into Tasmania – and that their primary focus was Fiala, “who directed a syndicate”.

He said the Broadbeach Waters woman “recruited vulnerable associates” to courier the drugs on the Spirit of Tasmania, and claimed she was paid about $5000 a week for her work – although said she had to pay much of that to suppliers.

Justice Estcourt said eight of the couriers were not intercepted by law enforcement agencies, but another five were.

He said in total, 13 trips were made on the ferry – each carting about 2kg of ice – totalling 26kg.

He said the 13 trips back interstate took back between $1,560,000 and $4,550,000 in cash, but these were conservative estimates.

Fiala, who pleaded guilty to two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, was first arrested in May 2021.

She was granted bail, but offended again when police caught her driving a black Jeep through Colebrook Road in December 2021, searching her car and the caravan she was living in at Campania, locating ice with a street value up to $238,000.

Justice Estcourt noted the Crown didn’t accept Fiala hadn’t profited from the racket – and argued for the courts to make Fiala liable for a large pecuniary order.

But the judge assessed Fiala’s profit to be $300,000, which she must ultimately repay to the state.

Justice Estcourt noted Fiala had been subjected to domestic violence for 17 years, and suffered from post traumatic stress disorder of “some severity”.

However, he noted the scourge of drugs within the community due to cases like Fiala’s – which he said was significant for the country, not just Tasmania.

“There is potential for the drugs to result in untold deleterious consequences,” he said.

Fiala’s sentence was backdated to December 2021, when she was first taken into custody.

She must serve seven-and-a-half years before she is eligible for parole.

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