Matthew Yacoub was proud of the product he was selling, even if it was illegal. He was so proud in fact, he boasted about the quality of the drugs he was about to hand over to his biggest buyer.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
“Do you know how strong this stuff is?” he said enthusiastically as he and the other man sat in the back of a car at Albion Park McDonalds on March 31 last year ready to exchange $15,500 for an ounce of ice and 2000 ecstasy tablets.
“I’ve got the whole city f—king loving it.”
But the only people who would derive any enjoyment out of the drug deal that took place that day were the dedicated detectives who had been watching Yacoub’s every move for more than two months.
Just days later, after carrying out more than 40 deals in a two month period, Yacoub’s enterprise was halted indefinitely by those same officers.
Unbeknownst to him, his big buyer had been an undercover police officer and the boasting had marked yet another nail in the coffin that would be his drug trafficking career.
In Wollongong District Court on Tuesday, Yacoub said he was in debt and desperate for cash at the time after the promise of a job had fallen through.
He admitted getting the drugs on credit from his up-line supplier, Christopher Agoris, then selling them for a small profit.
Hampered by a disqualified driver’s licence, Yacoub employed Javier Caroca to take him from job to job.
Both men have been on remand since their arrest in April last year: Yacoub has twins born in October he’s yet to meet.
He told the court he used to be addicted to drugs but was now clean and once released, to get a steady job and provide for his family.
Caroca, likewise, will have the support of his family when he is eventually released.
“We’re behind him 100 per cent,” his sister-in-law said, but warned any relapsing and he was on his own.
Judge Mark Marien will sentence both men at a later date.
