A former Nomads bikie has been jailed for more than five years after police uncovered a stash of drugs and a cache of weapons that included commercial-grade explosives, a high-powered military rifle and an AK-47 magazine.
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Stephen Nicholas Da Silva-Wilson, 25, claimed a fellow bikie gang member told him to collect the illegal haul days before police swooped on a Kambah house to arrest him for a domestic violence order breach in August last year.
Magistrate Beth Campbell found there was no evidence of coercion and innocent explanation for the drugs and weapons as she sentenced Da Silva-Wilson to five years and nine months imprisonment in the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday.
He will serve a non-parole period of three years and four months.
Police had seized one kilogram of commercial-grade explosives, a semi-automatic M1 Carbine rifle stored in a guitar case, a loaded and sawn-off Smith and Wesson revolver, the AK-47 magazine, a knuckle duster, trench knife and ammunition.
The explosives were found in a backpack in a clothes dryer, wrapped around a detonating cord and had been stored with detonators.
A mixed bag of drugs also found at the house contained trafficable amounts of methamphetamine, MDMA and MDA.
He pleaded guilty to 14 charges including drug trafficking, possessing a prohibited firearm and ammunition, possessing a dangerous substance, failing to comply with firearm storage requirements and four breaches of domestic violence orders.
Ms Campbell said there was no evidence to suggest Da Silva-Wilson was a drug addict and the amount and variety of drugs showed he was part of an ongoing drug-selling business involved in "more sophisticated and concerning activity", rather than a street-level dealer.
She said the "most worrying" discovery in the weapons stash was the bomb-making equipment in "a domestic dwelling in suburban Canberra". The working order military rifle's "sole purpose was to maim and kill".
At a sentence hearing, Da Silva-Wilson's defence lawyers said he was in the process of severing ties with the Nomads and had the potential to turn a corner.
They had pushed for an intensive corrections order, which would allow him to serve his sentence in the community instead of behind bars.
But prosecutor Sara Gul said police had seized his Nomads colours in the raid and had been housed in that club's section in the Alexander Maconochie Centre.
She said any promises he'd walked away from OMCG life should be taken with "extreme caution".
"It's clear he was an active member of the motorcycle club at the time police raided his house," she said.
Ms Gul said the rifle posed an "extensive risk to the community" and, when in the wrong hands, was capable of "an astonishing amount of damage".
The "ghastly" trench knife could also do "horrendous damage", she said.
"There is simply no reason why any law-abiding member of the community should ever have a weapon like that in their possession."
Ms Campbell said Da Silva-Wilson, who has been in custody since his arrest, told a pre-sentence report author he understood and accepted responsibility for his crimes.
She noted his claims to have severed ties with the Nomads but was still reluctant to comment on his likelihood of reoffending.
Ms Campbell said "no court ever gives up lightly on a young man, particularly one serving his first prison term". But she found Da Silva-Wilson unsuitable for an intensive corrections order.
He will be eligible for parole in 2019.
