Trials over ‘drug racket’
GOLD Coast property developer Steve Seabrook has been committed to stand in two separate trials over an alleged ice and cocaine racket.
Seabrook, 55, is facing about 300 charges including possession, production, trafficking and supply of dangerous drugs, as well as possession of property suspected of being the proceeds of an offence.
Seabrook was charged by the Crime and Corruption Commission as part of an investigation dubbed Operation Altana in February.
Mortgage broker George Boulos, 41, and security systems expert Shaun Loader, 46, were also charged in relation to the alleged drug syndicate.
In February, the CCC revealed it laid more than 650 charges against several men whom they allege were “major players” in a distribution network with alleged links to the Hells Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Gang on the Gold Coast.
The CCC also allege an ice production site was identified on Main Beach restaurant and cafe strip Tedder Ave, where the dangerous drug was cut, recrystallised and packaged for distribution.
Seabrook was yesterday committed to stand trial in the Southport District Court at a date yet to be determined on charges including fraud and drug possession. He was committed to stand trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court on several more serious charges relating to the syndicate, including 196 counts of supplying dangerous drugs, trafficking and permitting the use of a place.
Seabrook, listed online as the managing director of a property acquisition and development company called Linear Developments Pty Ltd, had previously been described as a regular on the Gold Coast social scene.
Loader, from Main Beach, faces 26 charges, including trafficking a dangerous drug.
Boulos faces 244 drug related offences including trafficking and supply. A fourth man has also been charged with trafficking and supply.
The CCC have previously said covert investigations identified syndicates with multiple, overlapping lines of drug supply into Queensland.