Drug kingpin jailed for 23 years
Meth syndicate kingpin Marc Quaid has been jailed for 23 years, after a judge ruled he was one of WA's most senior drug dealers.
In May, Quaid was convicted on two counts of possessing meth with intent to sell or supply, along with his driver Roberto Zanon, after a major police operation uncovered a massive stash of drugs at a Malaga warehouse last year.
The pair were convicted over a haul of nearly 13kg of meth worth millions of dollars, and were today jailed at Perth's District Court.
Judge Bruce Goetze agreed that Quaid had been at or near the top of WA's drug distribution network, and handed him sentences of 20 and 15 years to run partly consecutively.
Zanon, who was Quaid's courier, was jailed for 14 years.
During the trial earlier this year, it was revealed Quaid was known by two codenames - World 150 and FrostGiants - as he directed the movements of kilograms of ice and other drugs.
It was also revealed Quaid held meetings about his methylamphetamine business outside his two sons’ Highgate primary school, with the principal giving evidence at his trial.
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Prosecutor Linda Petrusa had described Quaid was "prolific, persistent and consistent" in his dealing, with emails revealing the movement of nearly 13kg of meth, 1kg of cocaine and 3000 ecstasy pills in just over two weeks.
Quaid also wrote in another email that he believed he could have sold 40,000 ecstasy pill at two music festivals over one long weekend.
Defence lawyer Sam Vandongen SC argued that Quaid was not at the very top of the syndicate, as he referred to his boss in the emails.
He also said his inevitable jail term would devastate his three young children.
It was revealed in court that a handwritten letter from Quaid, pleading for mercy, had been sent to the judge yesterday.
Marc Quaid is the brother of Fabian, who is serving a 17 year sentence for drug trafficking.
Fabian, a boyhood friend of fallen West Coast Eagles star Ben Cousins, was arrested in 2008 as part of Operation Interstice, which foiled a plot to traffic 44kg of ecstasy valued at up to $24 million to WA between July 2007 and May 2008.
