Convicted amphetamines trafficker says he used cold-and-flu tablets to help body building
-
From: The Courier-Mail
-
July 20, 2010 1:54PM
A FORMER Gold Coast outlaw motorcycle gang member serving 13 years jail for trafficking amphetamines today told a court he used to regularly be in possession of quantities of cold-and-flu tablets usually used to produce illegal drugs.
But he claims to have only used the legally available over-the-counter medication to bulk up while pumping iron.
Edward Charles Cannon told the Supreme Court in Brisbane he never used cold tablets to manufacture amphetamines -- referred to on the street as speed -- but rather to help him as part of his body building regimen.
Cannon, 51, a former Finks gang member, took to the witness stand for the first time today as the Queensland Government attempts to secure an almost $27 million criminal proceeds order against him.
Queensland's peak criminal watchdog, on behalf of the State Government, alleges Cannon accumulated cash and property worth between $9 million and $27 million through trafficking amphetamines between December 31, 1995, and January 15, 2003.
The CMC is seeking an order against Cannon for $26,905,500 which it claims the convicted trafficker raised during his criminal exploits.
The CMC has confirmed the sum of so-called criminal proceeds is the highest ever sought in Queensland and that Cannon is the first person to have property frozen under the Criminal Proceeds Confiscation Act 2002.
Barrister Mark Hinson, SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, has told the court any "proceeds assessment" order should be determined on what the court accepted was the going "street price" for amphetamines at the time Cannon was trafficking the illicit drug.
Mr Hinson said that Cannon, at the time of his arrest in early 2003, was in possession of enough precursor drugs, such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, to produce 244kg of methyl-amphetamine with a purity of more than 60 per cent.
A jury convicted Cannon in October 2005 on charges of trafficking and possessing dangerous drugs.
Cannon, under cross-examination by Mr Hinson, today testified that on "a couple of occasions" between 1999 and 2003 he had been in possession of "more than one box of Sudafed" cold-and-flu tablets.
He said at no time had he ever extracted pseudoephedrine from the medication for use in the production of amphetamines, nor had he instructed anyone to carry out the process.
Instead, Cannon claimed he took "one or two tablets" or a "1/4 of a teaspoon" of ephedrine, in powder form, up to "three times a week" during his regular body building training.
"I've been in the gym industry ... (and) it (pseudoephedrine and ephedrine) has been used for years," Cannon said.
"It oxygenates your blood cells and gives you a bigger pump."
Cannon denied ever purchasing or obtaining large quantities of any pre-cursor drug to manufacture speed.
"Did I ever purchase large quantities? Never," he said.
When Cannon was arrested, it was revealed he owned a waterfront mansion and several other properties, a Jaguar sports car and two catamarans.
The hearing before Justice Peter Applegarth is unfinished.