Warrnambool man pleads guilty to selling drugs to undercover police officers

Bailey Anwyl, 21, sold quantities of the drugs to two covert police operatives at a Port Fairy warehouse where he worked with a 58-year-old male co-accused.

He was arrested at his Warrnambool home in September and subsequently charged with trafficking MDMA and cannabis.

He pleaded guilty to the charges in Warrnambool Magistrates Court this month and was sentenced to the 77 days he had already served in custody on remand.

The man was released on a 12-month community corrections order.

The court heard police established Operation Stein in March this year in order to investigate the alleged trafficking of drugs in the south-west.

Anwyl and the co-accused were targeted in the operation, which involved the deployment of covert police operatives.

On May 16, the operatives were deployed in the Port Fairy area, attending a warehouse in Awabi Court after communicating with the co-accused about the sale of 100 ecstasy tablets.

They officers attended the address about 4pm and had discussion with the co-accused about the purchase of interstate-sourced cannabis.

Anwyl soon arrived at the address, was introduced to the covert operatives and the four men moved into a seperate room where there was no CCTV.

He produced a bag of 100 'Ace of Spades'-shaped pressed ecstasy tablets and told them a friend had recently tried them and that they "were sweet".

Anwyl exchanged the drugs for $2000 cash.

He told the officers the drugs were from Melbourne and that he could get "heaps".

Then on September 18, Anwyl and the co-accused again communicated with the covert operatives, who purchased two ounces of cannabis for $50.

The court heard Anwyl met the officers again that night in Warrnambool and sold them a further five ecstacy tablets for $350.

A search warrant executed at the Port Fairy warehouse on September 24 uncovered 201 grams of cannabis.

Anwyl was arrested and during an interview, he made full admissions to the offending, stated he sold drugs to fund his own habit.

During a plea hearing, solicitor Alexis Buckley said the trafficking was not persistent in nature, that Anwyl was assisting a friend and did not make a "a lot of money".

She said Anwyl had a significant history of drug use, as well as ongoing and untreated mental health issues.

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