A MAN running a significant drug supply operation out of his backyard at Speers Point, including hiding nearly 27 litres of a deadly party drug in the false bottom of a garbage bin, has been jailed for a maximum of seven years.
Michael Glynatsis, now 50, was the "primary operator" of the enterprise and was responsible for sourcing large quantities of methamphetamine and 1,4-Butanediol, and industrial chemical solvent known as "bute" and used as an alternative to GHB.
He used his home in Quarry Road as the base of the operation and would store, weigh and package the drugs, have customers over to try and buy as well organising couriers and managing the finances.
And Glynatsis also directed his partner and co-offender, Amanda Long, 41, to make supplies and collect money, that arrangement continuing even after he was arrested and refused bail.
Police in December 2022 arrested and charged Glynatsis and Long after a search of their Speers Point home uncovered 55 bottles containing nearly 27 litres of bute underneath the false bottom of a wheelie bin.
The industrial chemical solvent, which is converted to GHB in the body, had a street value of $220,000, police said.
Investigators also found text messages showing the pair supplied another 11 litres of bute and 180 grams of methamphetamine between September, 2022 and their arrest in December.
Long pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and in May was jailed for a maximum of five years and six months, her sentence reduced after a judge found she had been subjected to "controlling and abusive behaviour" at the hands of Glynatsis.
Glynatsis's barrister, Rob Hussey, disputed that characterisation on Tuesday and Judge Roy Ellis found that while Glynatsis was the "primary mover", Long was a "willing lieutenant".
Glynatsis had also pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of bute and supplying an indictable quantity of methamphetamine.
And on Tuesday Judge Ellis sentenced him to a maximum of seven years in jail, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months, making him eligible for parole in September, 2026.
Long, who was initially granted bail after the raid at Speers Point but was arrested and locked up after she continued to source methamphetamine and bute, will be eligible for release in January, 2026.
