A Sydney delivery driver who nicked 65kg of salmon bound for Shellharbour has confessed to selling the fish on the black market.
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Mohammad Ghani claimed he made $1100 profit after thrice detouring on his drive from the Sydney Fish Markets to Shellharbour Square Seafoods to sell the salmon to a Sydney-based friend who ran a catering business.
Ghani's fishy five-fingered discount proved a costly one in Wollongong Local Court on Friday, with Magistrate Gabriel Fleming slapping him with a $6000 bill - a $4000 fine and $2000 in compensation, the later to be paid to his employer, Tony Ristovski.
Documents tendered to the court reveal Ghani was employed by Yugo Seafood as a full-time delivery driver in 2019 and was responsible for picking up stock from the Sydney Fish Markets and delivering it to Shellharbour Square Seafood.
Both businesses are owned by Mr Ristovski.
The court heard workers at the Shellharbour store discovered 25kg of salmon - worth $600 wholesale - was missing from their order when it was delivered on the morning of September 19, 2019.
Four days later, another 20kg of salmon went missing in similar circumstances, as did another 20kg the following day.
Ghani carried out the deliveries on all three days.
Suspecting an inside job was afoot, Mr Ristovski told police he personally inspected each of the boxes of salmon that was due to be delivered to the Shellharbour store on September 26 and verified each had the correct amount of fish prior to them being loaded onto the truck.
Ghani arrived at the markets at 7am and left soon after, initially driving to Riverwood to pick up more product from the company's head office, then proceeding to Shellharbour.
Mr Ristovski told police he tried to follow the truck but lost it in traffic, so continued driving to the Shellharbour store.
He arrived at 11.30am - beating Ghani by 35 minutes.
When the truck was unloaded, Mr Ristovski discovered 12 pieces of salmon were missing.
He confronted Ghani, who immediately confessed to his crime.
"Yes, I'll own up to taking the ... the salmon," he said.
"I'll make it up to you whatever the cost is. I don't want to lose my security licence. I'm selling the fish to a friend with a catering business."
The court heard Ghani also had a part-time job as a security guard on weekends and was fearful a criminal record would impact his ability to retain his licence.
Mr Ristovski contacted police who arrived a short time later and arrested Ghani.
He plead guilty to one count of stealing as an employee and three counts of disposing of stolen property in court on Friday.
Defence lawyer Alicia Boehm handed up character references on Ghani's behalf from two previous employers and asked the court to accept his guilty pleas as a sign of his remorse.
"It's not conduct he's engaged in before," she said.
In sentencing Ghani, Magistrate Fleming described his offending as "opportunistic", saying he had betrayed the trust of his employer "for your own gain".
"When you're in position of trust you don't just help yourself," she said.
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