The largest ever drug haul destined for the ACT may well have been organised by a man who had no idea he was importing drugs in the first place.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The operation involved fake businesses, made up business partners, two Fyshwick warehouses, hundreds of kilograms of pool chlorine and a giant amount of illegal drugs.
When 356 kilograms of MDMA left Germany in 2017, headed for a small Lyell Street warehouse, it's not known whether the man it was addressed to knew what was on its way.
What is known is that Tamim Jamaal Nozhat now faces the possibility of a long time behind bars for his part in the elaborate scheme.
Nozhat pleaded guilty in March to one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug. He will be sentenced in coming weeks.
A commercial quantity of MDMA is 500 grams or more, the 356 kilograms of drugs contained 279 kilograms of pure MDMA, at an estimated street value of more than $139 million.
A judgment from Justice David Mossop of the ACT Supreme Court explained how the plan was carried out and determined to what level Nozhat was involved.
Ultimately, Justice Mossop found there was not enough evidence to prove exactly what Nozhat knew of the drug importation and may have been operating blindly.
It appeared the operation was allegedly masterminded by Nozhat's friend, Masoud Omari, the judgment said. Mr Omari is believed to be overseas and has so far escaped prosecution.
Using funds allegedly from Mr Omari, totalling tens of thousands of dollars and supplied in cash, Nozhat leased two Fyshwick properties and paid the drug exporter and a freight forwarding agent.
The plan was to organise a dummy shipment, also of pool chlorine, to be delivered to test the waters before bringing in the MDMA.
In March 2017, Simon Daly registered the business Future Pools ACT Pty Ltd complete with it's own domain name with the Australian Investments and Securities Index.
The only issue was Simon Daly was not a real person.
It is unknown who acted as Simon Daly, but it was Nozhat who paid $40,000 in cash as a deposit on a warehouse in Gladstone Street, Fyshwick for the dummy shipment to be sent to.
Mr Omari allegedly even had Future Pools signage drawn up to attach to the warehouse.
The 538 kilogram consignment of pool cleaner arrived in Australia and was allegedly collected by Mr Omari.
With the test proving successful it was time to try with the real deal.
A new pool business was registered, Wholesale Pool Supplies, but this time in Nozhat's name and a new warehouse was sought.
Eventually Nozhat secured the Lyell Street property and paid for it with bank transfers to a real estate agency amounting to $27,500. Police would later find deposit slips recording $62,500 in cash was paid into his account in just under two weeks.
He also made online payments of almost $30,000 to unknown overseas recipients.
With everything in place it was time for the shipment to be sent.
On 17 May, 2017 the consignment arrived by air in Sydney from Hamburg, Germany and destined for Fyshwick.
But this time it was intercepted by Australian Border Force officers.
Eight cardboard boxes, containing 144 buckets of chlorine and hidden among the white powdered substance were vacuum sealed bags containing a different white powder; 356 kilograms of MDMA.
In the following days Nozhat received several telephone calls from the freight forwarding agent alerting him to a delay in the consignment being released.
At one point the man asks, "it's very, very strange, it's just pool cleaner this shit isn't it?" Nozhat replied, "Yeah, yeah."
It was during these conversations that Justice Mossop determined Nozhat had become reckless in knowing that there was a chance what was being imported was drugs.
Prosecutors argued it was earlier in the process; that the large amount of cash, having no history in the pool industry, leasing the warehouses and his association with Mr Omari proved his involvement.
However, Justice Mossop found there was not enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Nozhat knew drugs were being imported.
He said it was possible Nozhat was kept in the dark by Mr Omari about the true purpose of the pool businesses or the Fyshwick premises.
But he did say there is a serious suspicion Nozhat was aware of at least a risk of unlawful behaviour being committed.
Justice Mossop will now decide what punishment Nozhat's recklessness deserves.
