Camera captures cash handover

COVERT police surveillance equipment captured a Gold Coast labourer collecting cash as part of an ice trafficking scheme, a court has been told.

Joshua Paul Vella, 27, of Bonogin, faced Southport Magistrates Court yesterday.

Vella was sentenced for possessing a sum of money suspected of being the proceeds of an offence under the drugs misuse act.

Defence lawyer Ronald Behlau told the court Vella had been sentenced to three years’ jail with immediate parole in the Supreme Court for drug trafficking, relating to methamphetamines.

Prosecutor Sergeant Bob Soper said the offence was dated to July 2, 2014 and it occurred amidst a “large (police) drug operation”.

He said “telephone intercepts” caught Vella speaking with another man about picking up a “sum of money for Paul (John) Vella”.

“And Paul Vella, my understanding, is the defendant’s father,” Sgt Soper said.

He told the court Joshua Vella was asked by the second man to tell his father “that the money could be collected” and Vella was “confirmed” to have visited a workshop “to collect the money”.

Sgt Soper said that Vella “attended this workshop and it was captured by a covert optical monitoring device”.

Vella was convicted but not punished further.