Victorian man avoids jail for ordering drugs on Silk Road website
Updated
A Victorian man who imported drugs bought off the UK website Silk Road has avoided a jail term after pleading guilty in the Victorian County Court.
Luke Hanley, 20, from Maryborough, in central Victoria, admitted to using a fake name and bank account to buy a substance like LSD over the internet last year.
Judge Frank Gucciardo said customs officials in Melbourne intercepted two parcels from the UK addressed to the false name used by Henley.
They contained 153 grams of the illicit substance 25c and 25i, a psycho-stimulant with a hallucinogenic affect.
A police raid on his home later uncovered 800 tablets of the drug which sell for up to $15 each.
The court heard the drugs had a total street value of between $23,000 and $53,000.
Judge Gucciardo said police found mobile text messages from Hanley to his father, who is a truck driver with a criminal history, about the drug orders.
He said hallucinogenic drugs were relatively new to the recreational drug market and had been linked to fatal overdoses.
It is expected to be categorised as a drug of dependence in the near future.
Hanley also pleaded guilty to importing 24 grams of amphetamines mailed from South Africa.
The drugs were intercepted in Sydney.
The judge accepted Hanley had shown remorse and had a "frightening experience and massive wake up call" when he spent four days in custody.
He said while Hanley had been motivated by profit, it was a simplistic crime and he had good prospects of rehabilitation.
Hanley was fined $5,500 and sentenced to 9 months jail.
The sentence was wholly suspended for two years on a $4,000 good behaviour bond.
Topics: courts-and-trials, drug-offences, maryborough-3465, melbourne-3000
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