You may remember last year when two Melbourne music promoters were accused of participating in an international drug smuggling syndicate, and trafficking 275kg of ice into the country under the floorboards of three shipping containers.
Now, 24-year-olds Raymond Lach and An Ken Vi have been jailed for a minimum of nine years each, Fairfax reports, with the haul being valued at $60m.
The pair had been connected with Melbourne’s flourishing trance scene and were reportedly working with Majik Entertainment, and had worked on parties at venues as big as Festival Hall – although it’s important to note that neither Majik Entertainment, nor its director, Giovanni Polizzi, have been accused of being involved with any wrongdoing.
County Court judge Richard Maidment told the 24-year-old men of his disappointment over the pair’s “tragic” downfall.
“How each of you became seduced by the prospect of quick money to become involved in this is very difficult to understand,” he said. “It is tragic that either of you sit in the dock.”
Both men were responsible for delivering the drugs to buyers, and were arrested immediately after one of these transactions. The job is said to have paid Lach $60k for his part, although both men refused to testify as to their involvement.
Despite their previously unblemished records, displays of remorse, and educated upbringing (Vi is qualified as an engineer), the operation was considered to be in the “worst category” for crimes of its type, and the pair received harsh sentences as a result.
“It gives me no pleasure to impose it on persons with such good prospects for the future,” Judge Maidment said as he passed the sentence down.
