A man who played a key role in a multi-million-dollar illicit tobacco operation that tried to avoid paying $15 million in excise to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) will serve three months in jail.
The illegal crop at a property near Katherine was uncovered after an anonymous tip-off in July 2018.
Investigators from the ATO, together with officers from NT Police and the Australian Border Force, subsequently executed a search warrant.
They found 19 acres of tobacco crops and an extensive irrigation system fed by an electric pump from the Katherine River.
A 40-foot shipping container converted into a drying kiln was also located on site, together with 6.75 tonnes of tobacco leaf and 150 trays of tobacco.
Victorian man Ali Taleb, who was eventually charged with producing and possessing tobacco without a licence, initially told investigators he was an excavator driver growing eggplants.
But the court heard two mobile phones seized from him contained photos, videos and text messages which connected Taleb with growing and maintaining the crop.
"In relation to the offending itself, you had a very significant role in this enterprise," Justice Sonia Brownhill said in sentencing remarks last month.
"You negotiated and paid for the property, you were present on the property and involved in all aspects of manufacturing from the very outset.
"I find you were a principal in the operation."
The judge said it was not known how much money Taleb had expected to personally gain, but given the size of the estimated excise "it may be inferred to have been substantial".
"You appear to have been aware of the illegality of the enterprise and potential penalties, given the matters on your mobile phone," she said.
"The risks you knowingly took of being caught support the inference that you stood to make a significant financial gain."
In her remarks, the judge noted Taleb, who migrated from Lebanon to Australia in 2006, had been left grief-stricken by the deaths of his sister and her children, who had drowned at sea on their way to Australia in 2013.
She also noted Taleb had no criminal history and that he had "excellent prospects of rehabilitation".
She sentenced him to 15 months' imprisonment and ordered he be released after three months to serve the rest of his sentence in the community, subject to good behaviour.
A cousin of Taleb's, who was also charged over the operation, has since "fled the jurisdiction", the judge said.
