Prisoner had drugs up his bottom

A 22-YEAR-OLD Toowoomba man with eight pages of criminal history was out of jail on parole less than three months when he was found with large amounts of drugs including 170 soboxone strips up his bum.

Lachlan Mark Freund, now 23, had been released from prison on parole and probation on February 17, last year, but on May 9 he had been seen inside a stolen vehicle, Toowoomba Supreme Court heard.

On May 19, he had sped away from police who had tried to stop him after he was seen in the same stolen car which was later found parked on Margaret St in Toowoomba’s CBD and Freund nearby.

He denied having anything to do with the car and said he knew nothing about the 26.9g of pure meth, 67g of the drug GBL, $2520 cash, a homemade handgun with a live round in it, a homemade taser, three glass pipes for smoking drugs and keys to a bobcat found inside the car, Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher told the court.

On June 4, a police search of his home had found another homemade handgun with a live round in the chamber, more GBL, digital scales for weighing drug, 5.2g of pure methylamphetamine, two glass pipes and a tranquilliser gun, she said.

Taken to the watch house, police conducted a body search of Freund and found he had 170 soboxone (Buprenorphine) film strips in his anus, Ms Fletcher said.

Suboxone strips had an inprison value of between $200 to $600 but during the COVID lockdown the price had increased to $600 to $1000, she said.

Freund pleaded guilty to a total 24 offences.

His barrister Nick Brown told the court Freund had experienced an attitude change since his last stint in jail and his young daughter had now provided the motivation for him to break the cycle of offending.

His client was working in the laundry in the prison and had completed two weeks of a drug rehabilitation course before the program was stopped due to prison lockdown, he said.

“He has prospects (of rehabilitation),” Mr Brown submitted.

Justice David Jackson sentenced Freund to four years in jail but, declaring 286 days he had already spent in custody as time served under the sentence, ordered he be eligible for release on parole as of November 17 this year.