Two men have been sentenced to more than seven years’ jail over a Brisbane drug business worth more than $300,000 and involving MDMA, cocaine and cannabis.
Ryan Sean Givney, 40, and Ben Alexander Townson, 31, were handed eight years and seven-and-a-half years in prison, respectively, on Thursday after pleading guilty to a string of charges in the Brisbane Supreme Court.
In 2017, they supplied 4000 MDMA tablets worth about $25,000, purchased 219 grams of cocaine worth about $56,000, and bought 99 pounds of cannabis at an estimated value of $200,000.
The Supreme Court heard police also found Townson with $41,000 cash, which was suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
Givney was also charged with possessing weapons including a Beretta pistol, a silencer, rifles, knuckledusters and ammunition.
Givney’s defence barrister James Godbolt told the court his client ran a successful chain of legal supplement businesses for eight years, until his wife suffered post-natal depression after the birth of their first child and he sold his business in response to the challenges in his personal life.
Mr Godbolt said Givney had spoken to his wife and children regularly while in custody and was described in prison records as “a model prisoner”.
Townson’s defence barrister Patrick McCafferty said his client had worked as a personal trainer and competed as a professional bodybuilder. He had his fiancée and family in court for support.
Mr McCafferty read a letter from his client to the court.
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