A man busted at the Launceston Airport by a drug detection dog with about $54,000 of ice in a backpack received his sentence in the Supreme Court in Launceston.
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Lachlan Anthony Le Fevre pleaded guilty to a count of trafficking in a controlled substance at Western Junction on June 1, 2022.
The court heard that Tasmania Police and the drug detection dog were screening passengers at Launceston Airport when the dog gave a positive indication to the accused and a co-accused woman.
When he was taken aside and asked if he had anything in the backpack he said: "Yeah, some gear ... a fair bit."
The ice, or methylamphetamine, was hidden in a face mask with a transparent front.
When decanted, there was 108.9 grams of ice, potentially worth $54,000.
The court heard Le Fevre had flown to Melbourne the day before and bought the ice for $15,000 from a contact he communicated with via an encrypted application.
Later the same day, police searched a Newnham address where further 0.21 grams of ice, nine MDMA tablets, the drug Liquid G, two glass smoking devices and .410 shotgun cartridges were found.
Le Fevre had spent 218 days in custody relating to the charges.
The court heard that he had fled to Queensland in 2022 after getting bail. An arrest warrant was issued when he did not appear in the Launceston Magistrates Court.
He was sentenced to seven months in jail for breach of bail.
While Le Fevre told police he had imported the drugs for personal use, the state's case was that he intended to sell the drug.
The court heard that he had several prior offences in Queensland.
In 2016, Le Fevre, then 20, was jailed after pleading guilty to 17 charges in Southport, Queensland, after leading police on a pursuit in which he drove through red traffic lights and drove on the wrong side of the road.
In 2020, he was also convicted in Queensland on a count of possession of a dangerous drug and two counts of possessing utensils.
In 2016, he received a wholly suspended three-year jail term in Queensland for trafficking.
Justice Robert Pearce said in sentencing Le Fevre to an 18 month jail term that the scourge of ice meant traffickers should expect a substantial jail term.
"With your record you should have known that that you risked a serious sentence," he said.
He backdated the sentence to September 21, 2023, and allowed Le Fevre to apply for parole after half the sentence.
He said rehabilitation was not beyond him.
Nick Clark
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
I am the Supreme and Magistrates Court reporter for the Examiner for the past 18 months. My journalism career has clicked over 30 years and encompasses four different spells at Tasmanian newspapers.
