A former Dubbo resident who was the brains behind a Gold Coast drug cartel which transported almost three tonnes of cannabis on interstate fights will spend at least eight years behind bars.
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Terrence John Thornbury, pleaded guilty to trafficking 2834 kilograms between January 2013 and April 2014.
He was sentenced in the Brisbane Supreme Court to 10 years' jail on Friday.
Thornbury is a former resident of Dubbo and his Facebook page says he was educated in the city.
He was living on the Gold Coast.
Father-of-four Thornbury, 39, was the mastermind of an operation that organised 108 flights over a 15-month period.
The court heard couriers were paid $100 per pound to bring cannabis back in checked luggage on flights from Melbourne.
The cannabis was vacuum-sealed and wrapped in sheets soaked in perfume to confuse police drug detection dogs.
Justice John Byrne said on the basis of the figures presented, Thornbury paid more than $15 million for the cannabis and then on-sold it in bulk.
The judge described the 39-year-old as the "head of a sophisticated, large operation".
He said Thornbury's brother, Joshua, who is awaiting sentencing over the operation, was considered a "hands-on" player and was not in charge.
Thornbury was supported in court by family, friends and his fiancee, who was in tears when the sentence was read out.
Justice Byrne said that despite Thornbury's early plea he had to set a punishment that was a deterrent to others, and "remorse is not expected in a case like this, this is a business operation".
The drug charge Thornbury was facing carried a maximum of 20 years.
"It is therefore necessary for the courts, in respect to offences of this nature, to impose and be seen to impose, sentences which are calculated to deter others," Justice Byrne said.
Justice Byrne categorised it as a serious crime offence.
This means Thornbury has to serve 80 per cent of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.
