A man involved in smuggling cocaine and methamphetamine from Mexico in bottles of beer has lost a bid to appeal his conviction.
Adrian Franze was sentenced to 17 years’ jail, with a minimum of 13 years, for his role in importing the bottles, which were stored at Sunshine and Yarraville.
His co-offender, Erol Ramazanoglu, pleaded guilty to identical charges, while a third co-offender fled and hasn’t been located.
Franze sought to appeal his conviction on grounds that the Supreme Court jury had been misdirected about his criminal responsibility and about whether he knew the drugs exceeded the commercial quantity.
In refusing to grant leave to appeal, three Supreme Court appeal judges ruled there was no misdirection and that the consignment was almost 200 times the commercial quantity of methamphetamine and more than seven times the commercial quantity of cocaine.
In August 2013, Franze, then 33, was jailed after being found guilty of attempting to possess 14 kilograms of cocaine and 133 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Australian Federal Police intercepted the drugs’ arrival on October 14, 2011, and filled 1100 similar bottles with water before attaching fresh Mexican beer labels to them. Listening devices were also hidden in the consignment.
Ten days later, Franze and a co-offender took delivery of the reconstituted consignment at a warehouse they operated in Westside Drive, Laverton North.
According to the Crown, Franze could be heard arguing about the drugs with his co-offenders, making statements about not wanting to drive the van.
Franze’s defence was that these comments referred to him not wanting to drive the van to Altona Gate Shopping Centre as the bottles might be damaged in the underground car park.
Police tracked the bottles being moved from the Laverton North warehouse to a unit in Fairbairn Road, Sunshine.
Franze gave evidence that on October 25, 2011, with his co-offenders becoming concerned about police surveillance, Ramazanoglu had intended to go to the Sunshine unit to empty the bottles down the drain.
The next day, 43 of the 46 boxes containing the bottles were moved to Ramazanoglu’s home in Roberts Road, Yarraville.
A listening device recorded him opening bottles, pouring out liquids and discussing how to dispose of the bottles.
That night, police raided Ramazanoglu’s home. He was caught trying to eat paper which had instructions from Franze written on it.
The following day, Franze handed himself in to police.
