A man who was stopped by police on the Federal Highway and found with at least 10,000 hits of ice has been sentenced to four years in prison.
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Suliman Negah, 27, had been travelling from Sydney to Canberra in a borrowed car in December last year when police, acting on intelligence, stopped him for random breath testing.
A search of the car uncovered almost one kilogram of methamphetamine in the spare tyre well in the boot.
The 983 grams of ice contained about 500 grams of pure methamphetamine, about 163 times the traffickable quantity, and it had a street value of up to $750,000.
Negah was charged with trafficking in a controlled drug other than cannabis and pleaded guilty in May. The maximum penalty for the offence is 10 years in prison.
The court heard police found encrypted messages on the Signal phone application on Negah's phone and these showed he had been involved in the drug trade.
There were also previous internet searches attempting to find out how long methamphetamine remained in your system.
Negah's fingerprints were found on the bag containing the drugs and there was evidence he had been motivated by financial difficulty arising from a gambling addiction.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson found Negah had acted solely as a courier in the drug operation.
The court heard Negah had been born in Afghanistan and his father died when he was two in armed conflict before he and his mother settled in Australia.
He had some history of drug use and had been on parole for a number of serious offences at the time he was arrested with the methamphetamine.
Justice Loukas-Karlsson noted Negah was still a relatively young man with the potential for rehabilitation but with his history his prospects remained guarded.
She said this offence was serious and that "the human misery that feeds illegal drug trafficking is well known to the courts".
She encouraged him to take advantage of opportunities while in custody to better himself.
"You do have a chance to improve yourself," Justice Loukas-Karlsson told Negah.
"The thing about being an adult is choosing to do the right thing even when it's not the easy thing.
"Gambling and drug addictions will only create problems for you.
"You owe it to yourself and your mother to prove you can be a better man."
Negah was sentenced to four years imprisonment with a non-parole period that expires in May 2021.
