THE barrister for a “trusting” religious elder has warned travellers to be wary of being preyed on by international drug dealers after his client was found not guilty of smuggling ice into Darwin Airport.
Northern Territory News reported that an NT Supreme Court jury returned an unanimous verdict in the case of Papua New Guinean Charles Litau after deliberating for about three-and-a-half hours last Friday. Barrister John Lawrence SC (senior counsel) said his client, who unwittingly brought 750g of methamphetamine into the country hidden in thick-soled boots in his luggage, was groomed via text by a man named “Greg Greening” for about two months, after he answered a bogus job ad to manage cocoa imports and – exports. Lawrence said Litau, a former managing director of Telekom PNG Ltd, never met the man – also ¬referred to as “Mr Big” – face-to-face. “Mr Litau was one like so many innocent people (who are exploited) these days,” he said. Lawrence said the evidence revealed “Mr Big” had investigated Litau’s background and values, and used the Seventh-Day Adventist Church elder’s religious beliefs to gain his trust. Lawrence said Greening arranged for Litau to fly to Asia, “ostensibly to take up a bogus position”. “He persuaded him it also involved further work-related matters in Australia,” Lawrence said. “This is apparently happening frequently in Australia and Asia.” On the witness stand, officer in charge of the investigation Mark Drury, said there was “an incredible array” of methods drug syndicates used to smuggle substances into Australia. Lawrence said: “There was a recent case in Hong Kong where a number of Australians, some with intellectual disabilities, were duped (into being mules). ‘‘The Crown eventually dropped the ¬charges.” Australia’s Seventh-Day Adventist Church boss John Stanley said he was shocked when Litau, whom he has known for about 30 years, was arrested. Stanley gave evidence that he worked in PNG for about a decade and believed Melanesian people were “trusting (where) we would be a lot more cynical”. Litau was charged with knowingly or recklessly imp¬orting ice from Hong Kong, hidden in holes in the thick soles of women’s boots. Commonwealth prosecutor Michael Cahill told the jury: “There were too many suspicious circumstances. ‘‘He must have known there was a significant risk, there was a border-controlled substance in the boots.” Litau was released and granted a bridging visa until his flight home to PNG.
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