Trainee Real estate agent sentenced for his role in supplying meth

Category : Vendor News | Sub Category : Vendor News Posted on 2025-12-14 04:59:05

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A magistrate told a court anything but a prison sentence for an aspiring real estate agent would be “manifestly inadequate’’ after he was “entrenched” in a culture that led him to participate in a dark web syndicate and deliver meth.

Harpreet Flora, 26, faced Penrith Local Court on Wednesday when he was due to be sentenced more than a year after his arrest for posting meth in curry box packaging in a syndicate that supplied drugs on the internet in exchange for cryptocurrency and cash.

Cybercrime Squad detectives arrested Flora, Mathurshan Sangarathasan and Mayuran Devakumar at Francesco Cres, Bella Vista, on April 4 last year following a long covert investigation between October 2023 and April 2024.

NSW Police had engaged undercover operatives to purchase drugs 11 times online using more than $9000 in crypto before Flora and Sangarathasan would post the orders.

Flora, of Glenwood, pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying an indictable amount of a prohibited drug in June.

On Wednesday, Flora’s lawyer told the court he was not directly involved with the syndicate and was only spending time with Devakumar and Sangarathasan because they were starting a business.

But Magistrate Fiona Toose rejected suggestions he was manipulated into the syndicate and said Flora was being “less than frank” with the psychologist who prepared a sentence assessment report.

“You’re trying to present him as someone who’s been manipulated by evil forces and he was someone who got sucked into this vortex … by virtue of setting up a real estate agency,’’ she told the lawyer.

“But I note he met these people when he was buying drugs in the first place, and that’s how he got to know them.’’

In November 2023, Flora mailed an express post package at Powers Rd Seven Hills that contained three boxes of pepper chicken masala curry concealing 13.82g of meth, which allegedly bore Devakumar’s fingerprints.

On April 3 – a day before the trio’s arrest – Flora placed a satchel in a postal box at Magowar Rd, Girraween. The three fish masala curry boxes inside were actually laden with 27.28g of meth.

Cybercrime Squad detectives made the arrests at Bella Vista under Strike Force Cyans.

The court heard Flora made full admissions to supplying the drugs for which he did not receive a financial reward.

The court heard Flora was undertaking tertiary studies, was unlikely to reoffend and called for a sentence to be served outside of prison – a suggestion the magistrate swiftly rejected.

“You need to be talking to me why you won’t be getting full time custody today,’’ she said.

“Does he get a full time custody or a full time ICO? Clearly anything else would be manifestly inadequate.’’

An intensive correction order would allow Flora to serve the sentence in the community instead of behind bars.

Ms Toose also agreed with the Crown he was not eligible to work as a real estate agent “and he should have thought about his real estate licence when he decided to commit the offence”.

She noted the offender was “one person for his partner and family” and then adopted another persona for the men in the syndicate.

“He had full knowledge of what these people were doing … he’s chosen to be with these people, he’s clearly chosen to associate with them,’’ she said.

“He’s quite entrenched in that whole culture. When we’re talking about people of good character, people of good character generally don’t spend a lot of time hanging out with drug dealers.’’

The Crown prosecutor described Flora’s behaviour as an escalation of previous drug offences.

He was sentenced to two nine-month conditional release orders in April 2023 for possessing drugs. He was not convicted but still serving that sentence when he got involved in supplying meth.

Flora’s sentencing was adjourned to August 25.

Sangarathasan who is in custody, has pleaded guilty to supplying a prohibited drug greater than an indictable amount and supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug. He is due to be sentenced in October.

Devakumar, 26, is alleged to be a “primary member” of the group and was charged with 11 counts of drug supply including a large commercial quantity of illicit substances, remains before the courts.

He has not yet entered any pleas.

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