In delivering its 12 August 2026 ruling on The King versus Ko, the majority of the High Court dismissed the Crown appeal against the August 2025 decision of the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal to quash the drug importation conviction against Tsz Cheung Herman Ko, as the trial judge failed to direct the… Read more »
A 59-year-old woman is facing court over her alleged involvement in a $3 million drug manufacturing and supply operation in the Port Stephens region. Her arrest follows an investigation by Strike Force Korpisalo, which was established by the New South Wales State Crime Command Drug and Firearms Squad in March 2026 to investigate the alleged… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim New South Wales government legislation that would establish a defence for medicinal cannabis drivers who test positive for driving with tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the psychoactive part of the drug, in their system, has been tabled in parliament, as despite it being a legally prescribed drug for a decade now,… Read more »
The New South Wales Criminal Court of Appeal (NSWCCA) ordered that Acting NSW District Court Judge James Bennett be removed from presiding over the trial of Michael Bechara, after the defendant appealed the judge’s decision to refusal his recusal order, which is an order that the judge remove himself from the case, based on the… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Timothy John Engstrom was running a business called Bungendore Landscape Supplies, together with business partner Adam Hunter in June 2019, when the latter decided to import a Caterpillar excavator from overseas, whist it had 384 packets of cocaine secreted in the arm of the vehicle. The total pure weight… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Toby Weekes, Jackson Chaker and a number of other individuals had been engaged in an unlawful commercial cannabis enterprise in regional communities in central west New South Wales over 2021 through to 2022. And after the operation was closed down, Weekes was charged with four counts of supplying a… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Nine hundred cartons of wine, which contained 123 kilograms of pure cocaine dissolved in an aqueous ethanol solution within 42 dozen of the bottles, arrived in Australia on a ship sailing from South America on 14 September 2012. The Australian federal police seized the consignment and extracted the cocaine… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Following an investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police intercepted a commercial dough mixer on 27 September 2021, which had been bought by local business Nella Cutlery, from another in the Canadian city of Toronto to be shipped to the Australian city of Brisbane,… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim An appraisal of the Berejiklian government enacted two-year drug supply prohibition order (DSPO) pilot scheme, which commenced in May 2022 in four regions throughout New South Wales, has found that although the initiative resulted in a “small number of orders and convictions made”, most stakeholders consulted on its effectiveness… Read more »
By Paul Gregoire and Ugur Nedim Serotonin is a chemical in the brain that puts a person in a good mood. A lack of serotonin can make a person depressed. The drugs Moclobemide and Venlafaxine can be used to treat low serotonin levels. And a combination of these drugs can produce a psychoactive reaction, making… Read more »