Chinchilla trafficker convicted

A “PERSISTENT but amateurish” drug operation that lasted for 14 months in Chinchilla was brought down after police intercepted the phone messages of an ice user, a court has been told.

Ricky Edward Thompson appeared in Toowoomba Supreme Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to trafficking dangerous drugs between January 2019 and September 2020.

Crown prosecutor Ellen Fletcher told the court the 39year-old either made or offered 114 different supplies of methylamphetamine to 43 different people at street levels of around 0.1g, with the occasional sale of up to 1.75g.

The court was told police intercepted the messages of one of Thompson’s customers, which led to a search warrant of his Chinchilla home that uncovered drug paraphernalia and small amounts of methylamphetamine and cannabis.

Thompson’s barrister David Jones described the operation as “persistent but amateurish” as Thompson made no attempt to conceal his operation, and any money made was either consumed or used to buy more drugs to fund his own ice addiction which stemmed from a series of family tragedies.

Justice Peter Callaghan said he hoped Thompson would continue with his rehabilitation efforts.

After spending 355 behind bars Thompson was convicted and sentenced to three years jail, with immediate parole.