Man caught with $54,000 of meth in carry-on at Launceston Airport

A man will spend substantial time behind bars after smuggling about $54k worth of methylamphetamine into Tasmania in his carry-on luggage. Here’s how he was caught.

A man will spend substantial time behind bars after smuggling about $54,000 worth of methylamphetamine into Tasmania at the Launceston Airport in his carry-on luggage. Picture: Alex Treacy

A man will spend substantial time behind bars after smuggling about $54,000 worth of methylamphetamine into Tasmania in his carry-on luggage.

The brazen scheme was discovered when a drug detection dog took an interest in the man’s luggage on June 1, 2022, with police finding 108.9 grams of methylamphetamine in four snap lock bags hidden in the man’s backpack.

Lachlan Le Fevre, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking a controlled substance and appeared at the Launceston Supreme Court on Wednesday.

The court heard Le Fevre had gone to Melbourne the day before specifically to purchase the drug from a known supplier for $15,000.

After his arrest, police searched Le Fevre’s home, finding a snap lock bag containing 0.21 grams of methylamphetamine, nine MDMA tablets, two containers containing traces of GBH, two glass smoking pipes, and four .410 shotgun cartridges.

The court heard Le Fevre had to be extradited to Tasmania in April 2023 after fleeing to Queensland.

While Le Fevre maintained he purchased and imported the drugs for personal use, the state’s case was that he intended to sell the drug.

Justice Robert Pearce said he understood that at the time of the offending, Le Fevre was heavily addicted to methylamphetamine.

“The evils of trafficking in methylamphetamine have been explained many times. The drug is a scourge on society, and those who seek to profit from its sale must expect to be punished,” he said.

“By your plea of guilty, you admit that you intended to sell at least some of the drug.

“However, the State does not dispute that you did not intend to sell the drug in the usual way – you agreed to buy a larger amount of methylamphetamine to reduce the cost, keep some for yourself, and then distribute the rest to those who had contributed to the purchase price.”

Justice Pearce said the offending still amounts to selling within the meaning of the legislation even though Le Fevre did not intend to profit from it “in the usual sense”.

Justice Pearce sentenced Le Fevre to an 18-month jail term, backdated to September 21, 2023, and would allow Le Fevre to apply for parole after serving half of the sentence.