Sweet scheme foiled

A PLAN hatched between two men for a shipment of cannabis was foiled when their $3000 purchase was swapped with two suit cases of sugar cane mulch after the shipment drew the attention of police.

Toowoomba District Court was told 41-year-old Damien Seears had paid the $3000 cash when ordering what he thought would be 1lb (0.45kg) of cannabis from a South Australian outlet in September last year.

Seears used the mobile phone of his Ipswich housemate, William Rolfe Herman Bettels, 44, who had his phone and Facebook page under the name “Justin Case” but the pair didn’t get what they paid for.

TWO men were left disappointed and charged by police after paying $3000 for a shipment of cannabis only to pick up two suit cases of sugar cane mulch.

Damien Seears had paid the $3000 cash when ordering what he thought would be 1lb (0.45kg) of cannabis from a South Australian outlet in September last year.

To make the order, the 41year-old had used the mobile phone of his Ipswich housemate, William Rolfe Herman Bettels, 44, who had his phone and Facebook page under the name “Justin Case”, Toowoomba District Court heard.

However, police became suspicious when two suit cases addressed to Seears at a Toowoomba address turned up at a South Australian postal depot, Crown prosecutor Shontelle Petrie told the court.

Police found inside the cases nine cryovac packages each containing 1lb of cannabis for a total of 3.91kg.

The cannabis was substituted for sugar cane mulch and the suitcases allowed to continue their journey to Toowoomba where Seears and Bettels collected them on September 9 – with police watching.

The pair was nabbed by police as they packed the suitcases into a car in the car park of the Withcott Hotel, Ms Petrie said.

Each pleaded guilty to attempting to possess cannabis in an amount above 500g.

The Crown accepted there had been no commercial aspect to the offence.

Barrister Steve Kissick, for Seears, told the court his client thought he was to get 1lb of cannabis for his own use but the other packages sent had been for other people.

Seears had a prescription for medical cannabis which he used for chronic arthritis but he found the cost of prescription cannabis prohibitive.

The 1lb supply would last his client six months, he said.

Barrister Geoff Seaholme, for Bettels, said his client’s only involvement had been to supply his phone and help Seears pick up the suitcases.

The only benefit his client was to get was to receive some of the cannabis with which he had been self-medicating.

Chief Judge Brian Devereaux SC sentenced each man to 12 months in jail but ordered the term be wholly suspended for 12 months.