Inside Esk man’s plan
HE WAS known only as “the driver”.
Adam Charles Johns was a painter from Redbank Creek with no criminal history who turned into a drug trafficker overnight and supplied the Sunshine Coast with several kilograms of meth a week.
He did it all by hiding in plain sight. According to police, it was his trade that set Johns on a downward spiral towards crime.
Johns had been tasked to paint the house of his high school associate and prominent drug trafficker Luke Perrett.
The then-34-year-old started doing deliveries and overnight went from a tradie wage to earning $10,000 a week.
The police investigations showed Johns had a customer base of about 24 people from the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich and Moreton Bay, all who purchased ice.
Perrett once told police Johns “delivered about 30kg of ice and collected more than $6.5 million over nine months”.
“Effectively it was just the greed for him. Easy money. Here he is slaving away painting houses earning $1000 a week to earning $10,000 overnight,” Sergeant Mansfield said.
“He sold it to himself that he didn’t know what he was doing. So he didn’t feel like a drug dealer.
“He had no priors and was not a user. It was all about financial gain.”
Johns would leave his home near Esk or a safe house in Mount Gravatt and load up.
His route spanned more than 500km a day and he delivered multiple kilograms a week, receiving a substantial bonus each time.
To ensure he earned his bonus he would encourage his customers to purchase more.
From the Ettamogah Pub car park to public parks, rest stops and service stations, his drop offs would be completed in broad daylight.
Johns’ vehicle was modified with a concealment where the front passenger airbag was usually housed.
Johns was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court on July 26, 2017 on one count of drug trafficking and eight other matters.
He was given a head sentence of five years’ jail, suspended for a period of five years after serving 20 months.
This is the second of a four-part series which goes inside a major drug trafficking syndicate and reveals how police cracked open the $3 million ring.