Benjamin Millar
A Burnside Heights man faces deportation from Australia to Iran after being sentenced to a seven-year prison term for his role in smuggling opium into the country.
Saeid Balagar, a 25-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, appeared in the County Court over his role in attempting to import the drug.
Balagar entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of five years and six months.
The court heard Balagar had attempted to take possession of a consignment containing 10.83 kilograms of pure opium shipped from Istanbul to Melbourne in January 2018, worth up $740,000 on the streets.
The consignment was addressed to Nader Khanmohammadi, a housemate of Balagar’s at an address in St Albans, with a contact number registered in Balagar’s name.
Intercepted phone calls revealed Balagar discussing concerns about the whereabouts of the package before it arrived.
An AFP officer posing as a delivery driver rang Balagar to arrange delivery of the package. Following his arrest AFP officers found the two boxes containing the opium in the garage.
Balagar told police he had met Khanmohammadi when the pair were travelling to Australia on the boat that brought them from Indonesia in 2013.
He said his housemate was to be paid $10,000, of which he would receive $1000 in return for providing his phone number as the contact as he spoke better English.
Judge Frances Dalziel said while Khanmohammadi’s name and former address were on the consignment, she did not consider that this to be evidence that he had the more significant role in the offending.
“It was submitted by the prosecutor that in view of the inconsistencies in the interview I should be slow to accept your assertion that you were only going to receive $1000,” she said.
“You did everything you could to take possession of the drug.”
The court heard Balagar’s visa expired in 2018 and he faces the prospect of being deported at the end of his prison term.
Khanmohammadi was sentenced in 2019 to four years and six months’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of three years.
