A Coniston father-of-four has blamed his role in helping a mate import cocaine from Ireland stashed inside 'Cadbury moist chocolate cake mix' boxes on "misguided loyalty".
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Danny Joel Nikolovski was sentenced at Sydney's Downing Centre court on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old tradie previously pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a marketable quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug - namely, 322.5g of cocaine with an estimated street value of $130,000 - from Dublin, Ireland.
He was taken into custody as Judge Siobhan Herbert sentenced him to 12 months behind bars.
Agreed facts tendered to the court revealed Australian Border Force officials seized a consignment of 'chocolate crisps' sent via air mail through DHL in Ireland on October 3, 2021, which was due to be delivered to Nikolovski's co-accused's Illawarra home the following week.
Following an examination of the package, two small boxes labelled 'Cadbury moist chocolate cake mix' contained foil sachets with a white powder inside. It was tested and identified as cocaine with a purity of 64.5 per cent.
On October 13, investigators organised a controlled delivery of an inert substance inside the consignment and delivered it to Nikolovski's co-accused, who allegedly provided his driver's licence to confirm his identity and accepted it.
Police arrested the co-accused later that evening. He was released without charge pending further investigation.
The next day, officers tapped a phone call between Nikolovski and the co-accused where they discussed police arriving at his home. In another intercepted call between the co-accused and another associate, Nikolovski's name was mentioned in relation to the police search.
Police also tapped a conversation between Nikolovski and his mother in which he said if police came again, "I told you what to say".
Later that month, the co-accused was interviewed by police where he confirmed his relationship with Nikolovski.
Nikolovski was arrested on December 8, 2021 when officers stopped him while driving on the Princes Highway and seized his phone.
Court documents stated Nikolovski had received five packages sent from the consignor in Ireland.
The Crown argued there was no suggestion those packages contained drugs, but said they contained similar contents to other parcels sent to the co-accused - including boxes of chocolate cake mix.
The court heard Nikolovski signed off on the consignments to "help a friend" who was going through a difficult time, with his offending stemming from "misguided loyalty".
Judge Herbert said this explained, but did not mitigate the offending, adding he must have been aware he was involving himself in a serious crime.
Read more: Revealed: The Illawarra's most wanted people
A sentencing assessment report determined Nikolovski expressed genuine remorse and is unlikely to re-offend.
Nikolovski will be released from custody in March next year on a recognisance release order, requiring him to be of good behaviour and engage with any recommended treatment for one year and three months.
His co-accused is scheduled to stand trial at Wollongong District Court in August.
Read more Illawarra court and crime stories here.
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Grace Crivellaro
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
Court reporter for the Illawarra Mercury.
