drug trafficking

A relative of infamous Bali drug mule Schapelle Corby helped move dozens of boxes containing more than 750kg of MDMA, using a sophisticated hidden truck compartment to store the drugs, a court has been told. Viliami Taani Paea Kisina and Benjamin David Englefield both acted as couriers for the trans-international drug syndicate before they were arrested by detectives in 2019. The sophisticated operation involved the use of fake companies, with fake business cards, to try and avoid detection by authorities. But the pair will learn their fate on another date after Supreme Court Justice Ryan reserved her decision on Monday afternoon. Englefield pleaded guilty to a single charge of supplying dangerous drugs. Kisina – who is related to Schapelle Corby through her half-brother James Kisina – pleaded guilty to the same charge and an additional count of contravening a direction or requirement of a police officer. There is no suggestion Ms Corby had any involvement in the offending and she is not accused of any wrongdoing. Brisbane Supreme Court was told police located the haul of drugs at an apartment in Brisbane in July 2019. They found 32 storage boxes containing 752kg of MDMA with a 71-72 per cent purity, packed in hundreds of vacuum-sealed bags. Crown prosecutor Brendan White said police replaced the drugs with brown sugar and special tracking devices as part of a police operation. Kisina, 31, collected the drugs from the apartment on August 4 that year and drove to meet Englefield, 47, in Coorparoo. The court was told the pair then transferred the boxes into a larger truck, which had been driven by Englefield from NSW. In police videos played to the court, detectives are seen using a remote control fob device to move a false wall which contained the boxes of MDMA. The fob device was seized by police when a search warrant was executed at Englefield’s Lennox Head unit. Mr White said the vehicles being driven by Englefield and Kisina were registered under false names and falsely-created companies – with their own business cards – in an “intense effort” to avoid detection. He said the bulk value of the drugs alone was $45m. “But it had potential once sold in retail to be somewhere between $114m and $536m,” Mr White said. “This represents something in the order of 70 per cent of the MDMA that comes into Australia per year.” Kisina was also captured on film unloading the boxes from the truck. Mr White said the pair were aware the boxes contained dangerous drugs or “some other illegal product” and both “didn’t really care”. Barrister Murugan Thangaraj, acting for Englefield, said neither defendant had anything to do with modifying the vehicles or setting up the fake companies. A bundle of documents, including multiple references and a letter of apology, was tendered in his support. Mr Thangaraj was told Englefield’s role had been “conflated” as there were other people involved in the syndicate who were higher up. “There are people at a senior level, and there are couriers,” he said. Kisina’s barrister Patrick McCafferty said his client had a stable employment and worked for family-owned businesses for two years before the offending. Kisina was joined by a large gathering of family members who supported him in court. The court was told he was only paid $500 to move the boxes. Mr McCafferty said his client was effectively a “courier” in the offending 28 October 2024 Source: News.com