The lengthy criminal history of a former Sydney bikie boss will keep him behind bars for at least five more months after pleading guilty to drug supply charges.
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Suvat Sarmisakliglu, 41, was sentenced in the NSW District Court on Tuesday after being arrested at Surry Hills in a taxi along with another man and a backpack full of illicit drug precursor gamma-Butyrolactone in June 2021.
"Whatever is in that bag has nothing to do with me," Sarmisakliglu told police at the scene, the court heard.
Almost four kilograms of the precursor was found in four white bottles.
At a nearby Airbnb rented using a fake name, police found just over 30 grams of methylamphetamine in a plastic bag and a further 38.5 grams of gamma-Butyrolactone.
Days before Sarmisakliglu's arrest, police had begun surveilling the mobile communications of another man and found text messages with Sarmisakliglu which appeared consistent with a plan to supply drugs.
The plan was relatively unsophisticated, and there had been no analysis of the drug's purity, Judge Warwick Hunt said while sentencing Sarmisakliglu.
Sarmisakliglu's lawyer Derek Drewett argued the drugs were found in a backpack between the feet of the other man in the taxi, and inferences Sarmisakliglu was a senior member of an enterprise supplying drugs were speculative.
"It may well be, but it may not be as well," Mr Drewett told the court.
There was a "detailed, very achievable plan" in place to improve Sarmisakliglu's chances of rehabilitation, including supervision after his release from custody, Mr Drewett said.
Sarmisakliglu's arrest occurred shortly after he had successfully completed a period of supervision for earlier drug supply charges, Judge Hunt noted.
"The fact he lapsed so quickly after supervision ended is cause for a somewhat guarded view of his rehabilitation," the judge said.
Sarmisakliglu's criminal record denied him leniency, but his most recent offending fell just below the mid-range of objective seriousness, Judge Hunt said.
Sarmisakliglu has served more than a year on remand already, during the COVID-19 pandemic which Judge Hunt acknowledged made his time in custody more difficult than it would have otherwise been.
Sarmisakliglu was sentenced to three years and two months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of 19 months, backdated to November 2021 due to time already served.
Sarmisakliglu briefly waved to his mother and brother from the dock before being led out of the court.
He will first be eligible for parole in June.
Australian Associated Press
