Drug Trafficker’s Multi-Million Dollar Dream Turns into 23-Year Nightmare: Melbourne Man Justin Craig Barnett Jailed Over Foiled Canola Oil Methamphetamine Plot
- A Melbourne construction site manager has been sentenced to 23 years in jail for attempting to import $150 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia.
- The drugs were hidden in pallets of canola oil and were intercepted by police twice, with a sting operation capturing the failed drug operation on camera.
- Barnett believed he was on track for a multi-million dollar payday, but his excitement was short-lived as he was arrested and later jailed.
In a shocking fall from grace, Melbourne man Justin Craig Barnett has been sentenced to 23 years in jail for his role in a failed attempt to import a massive haul of methamphetamine into Australia. The 40-year-old construction site manager thought he had struck gold, texting his wife to expect a $2 million payday and boasting about buying a Lamborghini. But his dreams were shattered when police intercepted the shipment, replacing the drugs with a dummy substance.
The elaborate plot involved hiding 629 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine, worth an estimated $150 million, in pallets of canola oil. Barnett roped in his friend Benjamin Wilson, who worked at a local Pack & Send, to help manage transport and storage aspects of the operation. But the pair’s excitement was short-lived, as police had been monitoring their communication and intercepted the shipment not once, but twice.
Barnett’s offending was described by County Court Judge Krista Breckweg as “serious and significant”, with the judge telling him, “You wanted to make money, but exactly how much you stood to make from the deal remained unclear.” The judge said Barnett’s offending was not lessened by the fact that the drugs had been intercepted and never reached the public.
Barnett cried as the judge described how his wife would now have to raise their child alone, while he served his time behind bars. The court heard that Barnett had endured a childhood of “profound deprivation”, which included physical abuse, neglect, and a drug habit that started from the age of 8. Despite managing to turn his life around and build a solid career, Barnett relapsed into drug addiction in 2021 when a business client offered him payment in cocaine.
Barnett will have to serve a minimum of 12 years behind bars for attempting to possess a commercial quantity of drugs and for trafficking the “date rape” drug 1,4-Butanediol, which he sold to Wilson in a separate transaction. His co-accused, including Wilson, Brendan Bradshaw, Hung Richard Nguyen, Channara Ly Thong, and Hien Pham, have also been jailed.