A VIETNAMESE national caught with duffle bags filled with 20 kilograms of methamphetamine as part of an interstate drug supply syndicate may have been more than just a "mere courier", NSW District Court has heard. Login or signup to continue reading Thanh Dat Nguyen, now 27, was stopped on the Pacific Highway at Nabiac on the night of April 17 last year, a search of his boot revealing millions of dollars worth of ice. NSW and Queensland police had been targeting Nguyen as part of an investigation into a cross-border drug syndicate and he was under surveillance when he supplied two kilograms of methamphetamine on April 4.
They were watching him again on April 17 as he headed up the Pacific Highway to Queensland before he was stopped and police discovered the 20 kilograms of methamphetamine inside three duffel bags in the boot. Police said after Nguyen's arrest last year that the ice had an approximate street value of $30 million. Officers later raided Nguyen's house at Bankstown where they found $138,000 cash, a luxury watch and drug paraphernalia.
He later pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine - which each carry a maximum of life imprisonment - and knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime. And on Monday, in Taree District Court, his lawyers sought to paint him as a "courier" and said his role in the operation was "lower down the chain" in the hierarchy because of the risk he was taking transporting the drugs. Nguyen came .