Three people who were allegedly part of a Shepparton drug syndicate will contest their charges in the County Court.
Yian Soon Phang, 32, who is from Malaysia but has been living transiently in Melbourne, Fatusaele Beniera Tautala, 29, of Shepparton, and Elisha Browne, 46, who now lives in the Melbourne suburb of Ashwood, all faced a committal hearing in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court.
Mr Phang is facing charges of trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamines, two counts of trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamines, trafficking a large commercial quantity of GHB, attempting to traffic a large commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine, trafficking heroin, trafficking pseudoephedrine, trafficking MDMA, dealing with the proceeds of crime, possessing methamphetamines, and burglary.
He was also charged with three counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail, which were also uplifted to the County Court as summary offence.
In an earlier court appearance in June, police alleged Mr Phang trafficked 1.8kg methamphetamines, 40.9kg of GHB, 154g of heroin, 10.1kg of pseudoephedrine and 1g of ecstasy.
At that bail application, Detective Senior Constable Anthony De Cicco said police had intercepted “hundreds of calls and thousands of texts” where Phang “put himself as the boss of a drug syndicate in Greater Shepparton and Melbourne and he was offering to sell drugs”.
Mr Tautala is facing charges of trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamines and trafficking a commercial quantity of GHB between June and October 2023.
He is also charged with trafficking cocaine, possessing an imitation firearm while a prohibited person, obtaining property by deception by using a fake identification to obtain $2971.50 from Suncorp Insurance, and five counts of theft — including stealing almost $400 worth of petrol from a Shepparton service station on four different occasions.
Mr Tautala is also charged with dishonestly retaining stolen goods, two counts of burglary, possessing a firearm while a prohibited person, disposing of a firearm to a person who is not a firearms dealer, dishonestly disposing of stolen goods, conspiring to commit aggravated burglary with a weapon, and conspiring to commit aggravated home invasion with a firearm or imitation firearm with the intention to steal.
He is also facing summary charges, that will also be heard in the County Court, of five counts of driving while disqualified, failing to stop on police direction, and committing an indictable offence while on bail.
Ms Browne is charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine, trafficking GHB, trafficking pseudoephedrine, and trafficking a commercial quantity of pseudoephedrine.
She is also charged with the summary offences of three counts of committing an indictable offence while on bail.
All three accused have entered not guilty pleas to all the charges.
Detective Senior Constable Scott Begbie from Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit was questioned by Tautala’s defence barrister Carmela Pezzimenti about 990 pages of transcripts of police telephone intercepts in the case.
Ms Pezzimenti asked about particular telephone and text conversations where police said her client spoke of buying or selling drugs.
Answering questioning about specific conversations where Ms Pezzimenti said drugs were requested, but she said police could not confirm if the sale went through, Det Sen Constable Begbie said police did not take one conversation on its own, instead also looking at calls before and after that one to determine if it was drugs they were speaking about, and whether any drugs were later on-sold.
Det Sen Constable Begbie said in most cases the sales were agreed to and those amounts were therefore counted in a final police tally about how many drugs were being sold.
Det Sen Constable De Cicco was cross-examined by Ms Browne’s barrister David Rofe about the three incidents he said involved his client.
One was a discussion about the sale of one litre of GHB in June 2023, one about the sale of 100ml of pseudoephedrine for $1000 in August 2023, and one between Mr Phang and Ms Browne about the sale of 10 litres of pseudoephedrine in September 2023.
The court heard that police are alleging that 100ml of pseudoephedrine is considered a commercial quantity of the drug.
Det Sen Constable De Cicco said while police did not believe the actual sale of the 10 litres of pseudoephedrine went ahead, the fact that Ms Browne had agreed to the sale and had conversations with another person about trying to get the drugs was enough for it to be considered as trafficking of the drug.
Mr Phang’s solicitor did not cross-examine either officer as the barrister who was to represent Mr Phang had become ill the night before the committal hearing.
The trio were committed to the County Court to stand trial, with their first appearance to be later in July.