WAGGA drug dealer Alan Riach provided good customer service to the man and woman who turned up at his Turvey Park home to buy the drug ice.
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“Here it is, already done up,” Riach told the pair as a plastic resealable bag sat on a set of digital scales.
The small amount of ice – 0.1 gram – represented the remainder of a 0.5g buy Riach and the couple had negotiated earlier that day.
Riach might not have been so accommodating if he had an inkling the couple he had been selling ice to over the past two days were undercover police operatives flushing out illegal drug sellers as part of a crackdown called Strike Force Calyx.
The operation was formed in February last year to investigate people believed to be selling ice, cannabis and ecstasy in Wagga.
Riach’s first brush with Calyx was on April 14 when his mobile telephone rang and a female operative asked to buy ice.
She was told to come to Riach’s home where he sold the operative .2g for $200.
The next deal came the following day when Riach agreed to sell the couple half a gram of ice for $350.
The deal had to be split – 0.4 earlier in the day and then the 0.1 that sat on the scales.
By that time, Riach had even more ice to sell and negotiated selling the male operative another 0.2g for $150.
On April 16, Riach sold the police another 0.5g of ice for $300.
The four deals were enough for police to charge Riach with ongoing supply of a prohibited drug.
He was arrested on June 16 last year during a police sweep across the city which resulted in the arrest of 13 people that day and many more over the following days and weeks.
In Wagga District Court sittings just completed, Riach was given a two-year head jail sentence, with 12 months’ non-parole.
Two additional counts of supplying ice were taken into account by Judge Jennifer English when she framed Riach’s sentence.
The sentence was backdated to June 16 last year when Riach went into custody, meaning the non-parole period has expired.
Most other people arrested in the operation have now been dealt with by the courts.
In other District Court news, a jury has found Wagga man Matthew Prowse guilty of firing a firearm in a manner likely to injure a person.
The jury found that Prowse had discharged a firearm at a Nixon Crescent house on March 23, 2013.
Police alleged Prowse fired the weapon after a group of men turned up at the house seeking the return of some property.
The incident happened about 12.40pm and Prowse was arrested in Beckwith Street later in the day.
Prowse is in custody and will be sentenced by Judge English on August 19.
