A convicted terrorist’s cousin who was caught driving around Sydney with a loaded gun in his underpants has confessed to working with a corrupt guard to smuggle drugs into a South Coast jail.
Ahmad Alameddine, 32, was handed a fresh jail sentence in the NSW District Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to taking part in the supply of 96g of methamphetamine and participating in a criminal group which smuggled drugs, cigarettes and mobile phones into the Nowra jail.
The court heard Alameddine, three fellow inmates and his sister Susan were part of a group which tried to arrange for disgraced correctional officer Stephen Adams to bring heroin, meth and buprenorphine into the jail in April 2020.
Adams was offered up to $5000 to help get the group’s gear inside and Susan Alameddine met him at a beach in Vincentia where she handed over the drugs, two mobile phones and SIM cards.
The court heard Alameddine was monitored speaking to his sister from jail where he made calls to discuss the weight of the drugs, how they would be allocated and concealed in different balloons and if the delivery to Adams went to plan.
A day after Adams collected the delivery he took one of the phones and chargers into the jail.
Adams was later arrested after colleagues suspected he had passed something to an inmate who was performing hygiene duties, the court heard.
The phone and charger were found down an inmate’s pants and police found the drugs during a search of Adams’ home.
Judge David Arnott said Alameddine was serving part of a four-year jail sentence at the time of the drug bust, after he was caught driving around Edgecliff with a pistol in 2018.
“The offences in the present case were planned, deliberate, potentially profitable and not an impulsive and counter-productive act or an example of erratic behaviour,” Judge Arnott said.
“I do not consider he has demonstrated contrition and remorse for his actions. He has poor insight into the impact of his offending, his behaviours and xjmtzywmotivations.”
The court heard Alameddine, the cousin of Talal Alameddine who was jailed for 10 years for supplying the gun schoolboy Farhad Jabar used to kill police accountant Curtis Cheng, had a rough childhood and battled drug addiction.
“He had a traumatic unstable upbringing, he has refused to discuss his upbringing, stating that his father had a problem with alcohol and his relationship with him was unpleasant,” Judge Arnott said.
“He told the author of a sentencing assessment report that he commenced using cannabis when he was 15, he told the psychologist he had tried ‘all the drugs’, he has had a fluctuating use of crystal methamphetamine since he was 26.”
The court heard Alameddine’s life had been marred by a series of traumas which included sustaining serious injuries after he was stabbed in the head repeatedly in 2008 and when he dived into shallow water in 2009.
He spent three months in hospital in 2016 after a high speed motorcycle accident led to the front part of skull becoming deformed.
Diagnosis of schizophrenia and depression had also been made, but Judge Grant said Alameddine had been “non compliant with medication regimes”.
He was convicted and handed a two year, six month prison sentence backdated to December 19, 2020.
Alameddine will be eligible for parole in June.
The court heard Adams was handed an intensive corrections order and forced to undertake 300 hours of community service work after receiving convictions for being an agent who corruptly received a benefit and drug supply.
Susan Alameddine was also handed an intensive corrections order for drug supply and corruptly offering a benefit to an agent.
