An international drug importer who hired couriers on Air Tasker to move his product has started a mental health charity with his family while behind bars.
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Hayden Cox was locked up for the first time at 32 after police busted him attempting to import MDMA and importing ketamine.
More than 16kg of the two drugs passed through the electrician's failed drug operation in early 2020, arriving through the post from Europe.
Cox has pleaded guilty to attempting to possess 5.6kg of MDMA, importing 9.9kg of ketamine and possession a commercial quantity - more than 1kg - of ketamine.
He used identification belonging to others to register phone numbers and create email addresses before renting postal boxes.
Couriers he met on Air Tasker were then unknowingly recruited to move the drugs.
MDMA arrived in Australia concealed in two concrete angel statues, which were switched by police. Cox had the angels with him in a backpack when he was arrested.
The ketamine arrived in Australia disguised in three separate deliveries - tubs labelled body building supplements and in tins labelled anti-corrosion grease were found in his car and a delivery of ketamine in air filters arrived the day after his arrest.
Cox faced a pre-sentence hearing in the Victorian County Court on Wednesday alongside Natasha Dokmanovic, who pleaded guilty to a single charge of attempting to possess a border controlled drug.
Both had at various times pretended to be the people, or relatives of the people, whose identities they had unknowingly used to rent out the postal boxes.
Cox's lawyer Mark Gumbleton said this type of offending was unusual for a first-time offender, but his client's background gave some indication to how he "fell off the cliff".
He said Cox had experimented with drugs at university, which had led to a drug-induced psychosis.
Cox then spent the best part of a decade battling mental health issues and hospital admissions, but he wasn't diagnosed with bipolar disorder until he was behind bars.
Mr Gumbleton said the creation of a charity and an online game was the cherry on the top of Cox's time well spent in custody.
He said Cox heavily researched the game, created with help from friends and family, which is designed to give people a scientifically proven improvement in their mental health.
The charity has raised more than $25,000 all of which goes directly toward suicide prevention and mental health research.
"He has used his time positively to take those steps because mental health is so close and dear to his heart," Mr Gumbleton said.
He described Cox as putting the disappointment of ending up in prison behind him and moving forward in a positive way, supporting his prospects for rehabilitation.
Cox, now 34, expects to spend at least until his 40th birthday behind bars.
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Australian Associated Press
