Rohan Arnold sentenced to 27 years in jail over cocaine importation

Mortlake saleyards’ major owner Rohan Peter Arnold has been sentenced to 27 years jail for his role in importing cocaine into Australia.

Rohan Peter Arnold was sentenced today in Downing Centre District Court.

THE major owner of the Mortlake and Yass livestock saleyards has been sentenced to 27 years in jail for his role in conspiring to import cocaine into Australia.

In the District Court in Sydney today, Judge Jane Culver sentenced Rohan Peter Arnold to a maximum of 27 years and a minimum of 19 and a half years for his role in the second largest cocaine importation into Australia.

Arnold, 45, formerly of Murrumbateman in NSW, was spectacularly arrested in a Serbian hotel in April, 2017, with two other Australians by local police over the importation of 1.28 tonnes of cocaine into Australia.

The drugs, worth about $500 million, were packed in 2576 individual blocks hidden in prefabricated steel tubes imported from China on a container ship.

MORE: ARNOLD HOLDS MAJOR SHARE IN MORTLAKE, YASS SALEYARDS

Arnold faced five charges relating to the drug deal in Australian courts but pleaded guilty to a single charge in a Sydney court last May as part of a plea bargaining deal.

He faced a life sentence on the single charge.

Arnold holds a 44.9 per cent stake — the largest of all shareholders — in WVLX Operations Pty Ltd and SELX Operations Pty Ltd, which run the Mortlake and Yass saleyards, respectively.

Arnold has been held in custody ever since his arrest.