Dylan Clarke allegedly busted with commercial quantities of cocaine, cannabis and meth in Top End home
A young man’s chatter about doughnuts, soft drinks and cupcakes was allegedly a cover for a far more sinister world of hard drugs and criminal operations, a court has heard.
A young man’s chatter about “cupcakes”, “Krispy Kreme” and “cans of coke” was allegedly a code to disguise his major Territory drug empire, a court has heard.
On Monday Dylan Peter Barry Clarke appeared in Darwin Local Court on Monday facing 35 charges over his alleged role in the supply of commercial quantities of cannabis, cocaine and methamphetamine in the Territory.
Judge Giles O’Brien-Hartcher heard allegations the 22-year-old man used a secret code to communicate with his two co-accused, a 65-year-old woman and his own mother 64-year-old Gwenda Walsh.
NT Police said the trio were under surveillance for two-months, alleging that secret recordings and texts discussing “cupcakes, “a can coke”, and “Krispy Kreme doughnuts” were the syndicate’s code for their drug plans.
The court heard it was alleged this code revealed a turnover of more than $135,700 in methamphetamines, $27,000 in cocaine, $148,500 in cannabis and a further $41,000 in cash.
But Mr Clarke’s defence lawyer, Samantha Marshall said it was unclear how the alleged cipher worked, saying there was no clarity around how police determined that “two cupcakes” allegedly meant “two pounds” of a drug.
Indeed Judge Giles O’Brien-Hartcher said: “I don’t know what a cupcake is — well I know what a cupcake is — but I don’t know the drug amount of cupcakes”.
NT Police have alleged that a raid on the dealers’ “safe house” in an Alawa home on Thursday September 18 uncovered $45,000 in cash, 560g of methamphetamine — 14 times the commercial threshold — and 1.8kg of cannabis, nearly four times the set commercial quantity.
When his Toyota HiLux was approached by officers shortly after the raid, it was alleged the 22-year-old sped forward and narrowly avoided running down a police officer before crashing into a cop car on Tasman Circuit, Wagaman.
He was charged with possession and supply of a commercial quantity of drug and possessing tainted property, as well as driving negligently, recklessly endangering life, drug driving and possessing a prohibited firearm, a controlled weapon, a silencer and failing to meet storage requirements.
Mr O’Brien-Hartcher said the alleged offending occurred while Mr Clarke was out on a suspended sentence for endangering serious harm and aggravated assault, and highlighted the young man had priors for drug possession, drink and drug driving.
Ms Marshall said the young man with schizophrenia could be supported by living with his cousin and his sister’s family in Durack, but Mr O’Brien-Hartcher said he did not have confidence in the young man — even after his sister suggested a $100,000 bond.
“The $100,000 cash surety is attractive, because there's a big incentive for him to obey bail or his sister loses a lot of money,” he said.
“But I have to balance that against the seriousness of this (alleged) offending. I have to balance that against the fact that if you’re dealing with this quantity of drugs, $100,000 isn’t the stretch that it might be for other people.
“Mr Clarke may have a view that $100,000 may be worth less than breaching his bail.”
The 22-year-old’s matter was adjourned for a preliminary examination mention on November 26.
His two other co-accused, a 65-year-old Alawa woman and his mother Ms Walsh were charged with possessing and supplying a commercial quantity of drugs and being in possession of the proceeds of crime with their matters adjourned to November 19.
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Originally published as Dylan Clarke allegedly busted with commercial quantities of cocaine, cannabis and meth in Top End home
