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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Blake Foden

Electrician pleads guilty to drug trafficking after $230k 'brick' of cocaine found in wall

Jake Low leaves the ACT Magistrates Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to drug trafficking. Picture: Blake Foden

An electrician has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking after a police sniffer dog helped officers find a "brick" of cocaine worth about $230,000 in the wall behind his oven.

But Jake Low, 28, claims the drugs were not his and that he had merely allowed them to be hidden there.

An agreed statement of facts tendered to the ACT Magistrates Court says police carried out a search warrant at Low's home in the Belconnen suburb of Dunlop on May 11.

That afternoon, police found about one kilogram of cocaine.

"The cocaine was pressed into a rectangular shape, wrapped in plastic wrap, and contained within a green and white reusable plastic bag," the agreed facts say.

"The cocaine was concealed behind the oven in the wall cavity through a hole made in the plasterboard."

The cocaine found at Jake Low's home. Picture: ACT Policing

At the time of the discovery, police told media the drugs would be worth an estimated $230,000 on the street.

Detective Superintendent Scott Moller said in May that investigators believed the cocaine was linked to "an organised crime syndicate" and that it had been destined for Canberra buyers.

He said there were also links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

According to the agreed facts, officers found several other items of interest during their search of Low's home.

They included a phone that was believed to be encrypted, electronic scales with white powder residue on them, $2200 in cash, and handwritten notes "consistent with the recording of quantities of cocaine supplied and money owed".

Low was remanded in custody when he first appeared in court on May 12, but secured his release on bail 10 days later.

In court on Thursday morning, he pleaded guilty to one count of trafficking in cocaine.

Low's lawyer, Tim Sharman, told the court the plea had been entered on the basis that the drugs did not belong to Low.

He said Low had allowed the cocaine to be "secreted in his house".

Mr Sharman conceded that a jail sentence was inevitable, but raised the prospect of Low serving his time in the community through an intensive correction order.

He said Low had a "negligible" criminal history consisting of drug possession.

Magistrate Louise Taylor ordered an assessment for an intensive correction order and continued Low's bail.

Ms Taylor will sentence Low on September 3.

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