Three individuals have been sentenced to prison for their attempt to import the largest ever ecstasy shipment into Australia.
A jury from the Victorian Supreme Court convicted the three men of conspiring to bring over 15 million ecstasy tablets into Australia from Italy back in 2007.
The drugs, hidden inside tomato tins, weighed more than 4.4 tonnes and were valued at an estimated $122 million.
At the time of the seizure, it represented the largest ecstasy bust globally.
Pasquale Sergi, Salvatore Agresta, and John Higgs received a combined sentence of 40 years behind bars.
“You all participated in a crime where everyone was gambling at the highest stakes we have encountered in this nation,” Justice Betty King stated.
“The act of acquiring possession of more than 15 million ecstasy tablets.
“You surely must have recognized the risks and consequences associated with [your] involvement.
“You opted to take that risk, and now you all must face the repercussions.”
Higgs, aged 65 and with a past criminal record that includes manslaughter, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with a non-parole period of 14 years.
Agresta, aged 44 and operator of an Ascot Vale Deli where gangland figure Des Moran was fatally shot in 2009, received a 12-year prison sentence, with a minimum of 8 years to serve.
Sergi, who is 49, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, with at least 6 years and 9 months to serve.
A fourth individual, whose identity remains undisclosed, has also been imprisoned for the conspiracy.
The two main orchestrators, Pasquale Barbaro and Saverio Zirilli from New South Wales, have already been sentenced to prison.
It’s important to note that these events took place in 2007, and it has taken six years to incarcerate these men—at an unknown expense to taxpayers!
