A man man who was running an international money exchange business when he was found with $4 million from illegal tobacco sales in a hire car at Heatherbrae has narrowly avoided a jail term in Newcastle District Court.
Malek Alhmedai, 52, said he received a call in December 2024 from a tobacconist in Brisbane who wanted to use his Victorian-based business to transfer money.
Alhmedai admitted in court on Friday that he had never met the man, did not know his real name, did not have any of his bank statements or anything to verify the source of the money and did not know who the recipient of the money would be.
But lured in by a potential large commission, Alhmedai paid for a flight to Brisbane and hired a car so he could collect the cash in person on December 20, 2024.
He drove to a quiet riverside suburb where a number of unidentified men loaded boxes into the vehicle and then he headed south.
According to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), Alhmedai and two Queensland tobacconist businesses had been under surveillance as part of Project Magnir, which was focusing on money laundering and illicit tobacco syndicates.
Queensland Health records show during 2024 VIP Tobacconist and Essam Tobacconist, both in the Brisbane area, had been caught possessing large quantities of illegal tobacco products, including about 65,000 cigarettes and 28 kilograms of loose tobacco.
Investigators who had tracked Alhemdai since that morning, followed him south but stopped surveillance as he headed towards the Gold Coast about 2.40pm.
About 11pm that night, NSW police spotted the hire car heading south on the Pacific Highway at Heatherbrae and pulled Alhmedai over.
He was asked if he had anything in the car he shouldn't have and replied that he had "maybe $2 million", which he said was from his money exchange business.
Police looked into the car and saw cardboard boxes, shopping bags, backpacks and a suitcase all stuffed full of cash.
When pressed, Alhmedai said "there may be more than $2 million" in the vehicle and "it may be $3 million", according to court documents.
He told police he hadn't counted the money and would only be guessing.
Police then searched the car and found a total of $4,007,425 in the various bags and boxes.
He pleaded guilty to dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime and gave evidence in Newcastle District Court on Friday that he was "surprised" by the amount of money.
Alhmedai claimed he had never done business with someone interstate, had never dealt with that much money and normally didn't meet people by the side of the road to conduct business.
"It is odd, yeah," Alhmedai, an Iraqi national, said through an Arabic interpreter.
"Well, my understanding from that amount of money I could have a commission of $50,000.
"I confessed that I was wrong because I accepted this."
Alhmedai said he was oblivious to the laws and his obligations to AUSTRAC, which is responsible for monitoring financial transactions to identify money laundering, organised crime, tax evasion and the financing of terrorism.
He said he would not have been involved if he knew the money was from something illegal and said he thought the cash was from the legal sale of tobacco.
He said he was expecting the tobacconist in Brisbane to provide him with the details of the recipient and he had 10 days to report the transaction to AUSTRAC.
But the court heard he didn't get the chance because he was stopped and the money was seized.
Judge Roy Ellis said Alhmedai had to have been suspicious but was tempted by the potential commission.
He said the amount of money was significant, but Alhmedai only had possession of it for about 8-10 hours.
Judge Ellis said the 52-year-old had no criminal record, good prospects of rehabilitation and was suffering from long-term post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from his time in the Middle East.
He said sending Alhmedai to jail would not protect the community in the long term and ordered that he serve a 22-month intensive correction order.
