Internet order for drugs worth up to $500k costs Tasmanian man six years in jail
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A Tasmanian man who used the internet to order commercial quantities of ecstasy and amphetamines to be sent from overseas in a package described as "car parts" has been sentenced to six years in jail.
Cain Jeremiah Dunning pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to import a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug, and one charge of trafficking in controlled substances.
The crimes happened between December 2016 and May 2017.
The Supreme Court in Tasmania was told Dunning used digital currency to order drugs from businesses in the Netherlands, which buy and sell drugs.
The drugs were detected at Australia Post at Melbourne Airport, in a rubber pool cover wrapped in gift wrap, and described as "car parts".
The court was told the amphetamine had a street value of between $270,080 and $451,300, and there were 51 ecstasy tablets worth $1,540.
After detection, the parcel was delivered to Dunning's house in Burnie as part of the police operation.
The court was told records from Dunning's mobile phone suggested he had "aspirations to derive an enormous profit from trafficking drugs", but his lawyer said such statements were "pure fantasy".
Dunning's lawyer said his client had been exposed to illegal drugs at a young age, as his father had been a significant drug user.
In sentencing, Justice Michael Brett said Dunning "almost succeeded in bringing a very significant quantity of amphetamine into the country, with the intention of selling drugs to others".
