A relative of convicted Balinese drug mule Schapelle Corby helped move more than 750kg of MDMA using a state-of-the-art hidden truck to store the drugs, a court has been told.
Viliami Taani Paea Kisina and Benjamin David Englefield both acted as couriers for the trans-international drug syndicate before being arrested by detectives in 2019.
The sophisticated operation used fake companies with fake business cards to avoid detection by authorities.
Englefield pleaded guilty to a single charge of supplying dangerous drugs.
Kisina – who is related to Schapelle Corby through her half-brother James Kisina – pleaded guilty to the same charge and an additional charge of breaching an instruction or requirement of a police officer.
The couple will learn their fate at another date after Supreme Court Justice Ryan reserved her decision on Monday afternoon.
There is no evidence to suggest Ms Corby had any involvement in the crime and she is not accused of any wrongdoing.
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told police found a shipment of drugs in a Brisbane apartment in July 2019.
The Brisbane Supreme Court was told police seized more than 750kg of MDMA (pictured) and Kisina and Englefield moved boxes of the drugs in August 2019
Englefield (pictured) pleaded guilty to one charge of supplying dangerous drugs
They found 32 storage containers containing 752 kg of MDMA with a purity of 71-72 percent, packed in hundreds of vacuum-sealed bags.
Crown prosecutor Brendan White said police replaced the drugs with brown sugar and special tracking devices as part of a police operation.
Kisina, 31, collected the drugs from the apartment on August 4 that year and drove to Englefield, 47, in Coorparoo.
The court was told the pair then transferred the boxes into a larger truck driven by Englefield from NSW.
Police videos played in court show detectives using a remote control to move a false wall that houses the boxes of MDMA.
The fob device was seized by police when a search warrant was executed at the Lennox Head unit in Englefield.
Mr White said the vehicles driven by Englefield and Kisina were registered under false names and false companies – with their own business cards – in an “intense effort” to avoid detection.
He said the bulk value of the drugs alone was $45 million.
“But once it was sold at retail it had a potential value of between $114 million and $536 million,” Mr. White said.
“This represents something on the order of 70 percent of the MDMA entering Australia annually.”
A large crowd of relatives supported Kisina at the Supreme Court on Monday (photo)
Kisina is a relative of convicted Balinese drug smuggler Schappelle Corby, who is not accused of any wrongdoing
Kisina was also captured on film unloading the boxes from the truck.
Mr White said the pair were aware the boxes contained dangerous drugs or ‘some other illegal product’ and both ‘didn’t really care’.
Lawyer Murugan Thangaraj, acting for Englefield, said neither defendant had anything to do with modifying the vehicles or setting up the fake companies.
A bundle of documents, including several references and a letter of apology, was provided in support.
Mr Thangaraj was told that Englefield’s role had been ‘merged’ because there were other people involved in the syndicate who were more senior.
“There are people at senior levels and there are couriers,” he said.
The court was told the pair had used a modified truck to move the drugs, which had a remote-controlled hidden wall to conceal the boxes.
Police replaced the MDMA, which was in powder form, with brown sugar before the sting
Kisina’s lawyer Patrick McCafferty said his client had a stable job and worked for family businesses for two years before the offence.
Kisina was accompanied by a large group of family members who supported him in court.
The court was told he was only paid $500 to move the boxes.
Mr McCafferty said his client was effectively a ‘courier’ in the offending.