A TERANG man who browsed the dark web to buy 350 tablets of ecstasy from the Netherlands and Germany has been placed on a two-year suspended jail term.
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Tyler James Evers, 22, of Strong Street, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool County Court to importing speed and three counts of importing a marketable quantity of ecstasy after an Australian Federal Police investigation.
Taskforce Icarus officers raided his parents' Terang home and then his home in Strong Street after border protection officers intercepted four packages Evers ordered on the dark web.
He told investigators he bought the drugs to use and sell, that he liked drugs, and was desperate for money.
Evers said he saw how cheap everything was on the dark web, was tempted, and used internet currency bitcoin to pay for the four consignments.
On May 17, 2016, border protection officers examined a package from Belgium addressed to be delivered to Evers' parents home.
The package contained one gram of white paste which tested positive to amphetamine, also known as speed.
It was a small quantity and destroyed by the officers.
Soon after on June 5 there was a second package from the Netherlands which contained 104 ecstasy tablets, a total of 7.4 grams of pure MDMA.
On August 1 there was a third package containing 50 ecstasy tablets from the Netherlands and the following day another 200 ecstasy tablets from Germany.
The total weight of pure MDMA was 36.5 grams which is 73 times the threshold for a marketable quantity of ecstasy.
Judge Liz Gaynor said although the charges were extremely serious, attracting up to 25 years' imprisonment, there were some strong mitigating factors in Evers’ favour.
She said ecstasy use was far wider and more common than generally realised in the community and it was not uncommon for users to turn to dealing.
The judge told Evers he was being given a one-off opportunity and if he returned to drug use the chances of him offending again would go up.
"This is a big chance – don't muck it up," Judge Gaynor warned Evers.
The judge said Evers dropped out of university during his second year after his cannabis habit escalated to ecstasy and ice, which led to a breakdown that he was still being treated for.
Judge Gaynor said it was important that Evers got on top of his issues or he risked breaching his sentence and being jailed.
"The suspended sentence is not just the court going easy on you, you're on a knife edge,” she said.
“It's serious offending and if the sentence is breached you can confidently expect to receive a jail sentence. This is a very special circumstance.”
The two-year jail sentence was suspended for two years.
The suspended sentence could be imposed because Evers was charged under federal law, not state where such a sentence is no longer available.
