An Australian court will sentence a Nigerian post-graduate student,
Jackson Igwebuike on 25 October, after he was found guilty of importing
methamphetamine worth $10million to Canberra.
The drug, worth N3.6 billion was imported by Igwebuike to Canberra in
ornate golden fish statues in October 2015, but alert security men
intercepted the drugs and substituted the ice before he collected the
parcel.
The drug could have had “calamitous consequences” if sold in the community, federal prosecutors told the court.
Lawyers for the 34 year-old Nigerian, a graduate of University of
Benin, agreed he acted as “more than just a mere courier” when he
accepted delivery of about 8.47 grams of pure ice before he attempted to
board a Murrays bus to Sydney with the drugs in his bag.
An ACT Supreme Court jury found him guilty of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug in August.
Igwebuike was caught in a police sting after Australian Border Force
officers intercepted packages destined for Canberra in October 2015.
His trial heard the drugs were discovered when three 20 kilogram statues
that arrived in a shipping crate from China were X-rayed by officers at
Port Botany on October 8.
Inside one statue of a fish they found 43 packages that contained a combined total of 10.58 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Federal police had swapped the drugs with an “inert substance” before the fish statue was put back together and repacked.
Taps of Igwebuike’s phones picked up communication between the accused
and another man in Igbo and with a freight company based in Sydney.
Prosecutors said Igwebuike used the name “Solomon David” and asked the
company for the package to be delivered to an address in Kaleen.
Undercover police later watched as the packages were delivered to the
address and collected by Igwebuike, who took them to a second address in
the same suburb.
In a phone conversation with another man soon after, Igwebuike discussed transport and meeting places in Sydney.
He was arrested as he stood in a queue at the Jolimont Centre for a Murrays bus to Sydney on October 17.
Police seized a suitcase filled with 43 packages of the drug substitute.
Igwebuike said he hadn’t known the statues had been filled with drugs.
He said he’d been approached by two men in a carpark and asked to pick up some decorative glass items.
Those men later showed up at his house after he had collected the
parcels and broke the statues open, before threatening to kill his wife
and destroy him if he didn’t take the drugs to Sydney, he said.
Commonwealth prosecutor Edward Chen told a sentence hearing on Tuesday
that Igwebuike had maintained he had been doing a favour for a friend
and wouldn’t admit he committed the crime for profit.
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One of the golden statuettes where the meth was concealed |
“The offender does not seem to demonstrate any willingness to accept responsibility for his actions,” he said.
Defence barrister James Sabharwal said Igwebuike had come to Australia
to study at the University of Canberra and the fact he would not now be
able to complete his postgraduate studies was a form of punishment.
Mr Sabharwal said Igwebuike had worked in the kitchen at the territory’s
jail and used his income to make phone calls to his large family,
including his wife, in Nigeria.
Igwebuike, who didn’t “quite gel” with other inmates and was often
alone, had been in custody since his arrest and could be deported when
he was released, the court heard.
Mr Sabharwal said there was no evidence Igwebuike would have benefited from a large amount of money from his involvement.
Acting Chief Justice Hilary Penfold said some comments in a letter
Igwebuike had written to the court, which indicated he did accept some
responsibility, raised questions as to why he maintained his innocence
to a pre-sentence report author.
Culled from The Canberra Times
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