Rural road-trip gone wrong
Vietnamese granddad jailed over massive drug bust
TWO Vietnamese nationals in a brand new Lexus “were obvious targets for police” when they were picked up with 47kg of cannabis on a outback Queensland road last year.
The tale of Uber driver Van Hung Du, 57, and Viet Dung Do’s rural road-trip from Sydney to Brisbane has heard differing variations since their June 2017 arrest in Stanthorpe wine country. But during Du’s sentence in the city’s District Court yesterday, the court heard the pair’s great adventure north from the Harbour Bridge with a boot-load of drugs worth $228,800 “had a commercial flavour to it”.
Du admitted the story he first spun to police after the Ballandean bust was a lie, claiming he was fearful of the criminals he was working for.
Those same criminals had promised him a cut of $1000 for driving the drugs interstate.
Police found Du in the passenger seat when the pair were apprehended as, the court heard, he needed to rest during the long trip. Du’s barrister David Jones told the court his client arrived in Australia in 1989 as a refugee, with ambitions of creating a better life for his family Down Under. He had since built a career as a professional driver in the big smoke.
“He was approached by Mr Do ... and when informed later about the quantity the drugs in his car he was very surprised, especially by the value,” Mr Jones said.
“It could be argued the route they took was to avoid detection.”
The 57-year-old pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous drug in excess of 500g and using the Lexus in the commission of a crime.
Du’s step-daughter was required to methodically relay every word to him in his native language during his sentence after court staff exhausted the services of 10 different translators who did not wish to appear by telephone.
Noting what she described as an early plea of guilty, Judge Catherine Muir sentenced Du to a head term of imprisonment of two years, suspended after serving five months.
His 34-year-old co-accused Do received a similar penalty, with parole after five months, for the same charges in the Ipswich District Court on Thursday.