Two men arrested when more than a kilogram of cocaine was found in a fire extinguisher on the NSW north coast have each been sentenced to at least three years in jail.
Already in custody, former Byron Bay NSW Fire & Rescue firefighter Scott Edward Biber, 59, and Philip David Emanuele, 52, appeared via video link for the sentencing.
District Court Judge Jennifer English said the men "played an equal role" in transporting the cocaine from Sydney's eastern suburbs to Byron Bay in January 2020.
The men had been under electronic and physical surveillance since late 2019 with police intercepting their communication on encrypted messaging services.
Police tracked Biber in early January 2020 as he travelled from Byron Bay to the home of Emanuele's father in Coogee.
There, he was seen putting a red fire extinguisher into his car, a Nissan Navaro Biber used for his First Response Fire business.
Later that day, Biber's vehicle was pulled over by police at the M1 roundabout near Ballina on the north coast.
Officers searched the vehicle and located a red fire extinguisher that had been modified and contained a block of high-grade cocaine weighing more than a kilogram.
"It can't be established beyond reasonable doubt that they were high-level (in the drug chain) as their communication was not sophisticated," Judge English said in the Lismore District court on Friday.
"Had the [drug] made its way to the community there was potential for significant financial gain."
Judge English said the court heard that both the men were recreational drug users but also unlikely to re-offend and were both otherwise people of "good character".
Nevertheless, their offending was serious and planned.
"They were not naive teenagers with dysfunctional lives," she said.
"They were mature, experienced businessmen.
"They had the wherewithal … to stop and think about the consequences and took the risk."
Judge English said it was a joint criminal enterprise and they were equal in their offending.
The court heard that while Biber, a former Fire and Rescue NSW firefighter, had been in rehabilitation for his drug addiction, he had failed in his time before the court to indicate any remorse for his part in the supply of the large quantity of the drug.
"I did not hear the offender express remorse on the impact of his actions on the community," Judge English said.
However, the judge said Emanuele, a former "house-flipper" and bed-and-breakfast operator, had shown he was "genuinely remorseful".
Judge English said while the pair had "good prospects of rehabilitation" and were "highly unlikely to re-offend", the community needed to hear a consistent message of deterrence to the commercial supply of drugs.
Each man was sentenced to five years imprisonment with a three-year non-parole period.
Taking into consideration time already served, Biber could be eligible for parole from December 30, 2024, and Emanuele from October 6, 2025.
