Police were watching when a bag of more than 500 ecstasy tablets allegedly changed hands at Mount Saint Thomas one afternoon in November last year.
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The pills sold for $5500. They were stamped with a MasterChef logo, but testing would later suggest a less than first-rate recipe, with the tablets found to contain MDMA with a purity of 14 per cent.
Between November and February, police allegedly recorded another five commercial drug deals unfold at Liverpool, Fairfield Heights, Unanderra, Mount Kembla and Yennora. They were keeping watch as part of a controlled operation by Strike Force Worra.
Now a 27-year-old Coniston woman, Jemma Kay Johnson, stands accused of playing a key role in the deals, allegedly supplying a total of 1804 grams of MDMA – more than three times the quantity considered ‘large commercial’, under drugs legislation.
Johnson was refused bail at Wollongong Local Court on Wednesday, despite her family offering a $100,000 surety. Police will allege she acted as part of a criminal group involving her former partner, Kamil Sande, described in police documents as the syndicate’s “upline” supplier. Police believe Sande passed drugs to Johnson for distribution to customers and runners including Jack Bayliss, who has also been charged.
Police will allege Johnson was involved in deals including the sale of 1000 tablets stamped with a four leaf clover logo at Fairfield Heights, for $9000. Testing later put the purity at nine per cent.
Police allegedly intercepted telephone calls relating to a deal to sell 5000 ecstasy tablets for six dollars each, at a total cost of $30,000. In a January 23 meeting, Johnson allegedly dictated how the transaction would occur and lined up Bayliss to carry out the sale while she remained nearby.
Police will allege 2000 of the tablets changed hands – this time stamped with a Pokemon logo – before Bayliss and Johnson were arrested. Police further allege Johnson’s DNA was detected on a .22 calibre sawn-off rifle that fell out of a doona during a police search at a property at Farmborough Heights on December 14, 2016.
A woman – thought to be Johnson – had called NSW Ambulance paramedics to the address a day earlier, claiming a drug-affected man was injured and needed medical attention.
Police sought a search warrant after they found the home unattended, with blood on the floor. They allegedly found 10 brown speckled tablets stamped with the MasterChef logo, 5.24 grams of a drug believed to be ice, and the firearm.
The matter returns to court July 19.