Precise bookkeeping led to Melbourne drug trafficker’s downfall
David Jurkovic can blame his criminal downfall on the fastidious bookkeeping he kept in his thriving drug trade, which provided federal police with ample evidence that led to him being jailed for almost two decades.
Jurkovic kept detailed handwritten ledgers of his drug deals, which outlined the sale price and movement of more than 120 kilograms of cocaine and 47 kilograms of methamphetamine from a safe house in Tullamarine for more than a year.
Cash found inside the Tullamarine methamphetamine safe house.Credit:AFP
The Australian Federal Police were in the process of raiding the property as part of a separate money laundering investigation in December 2020 when they stumbled on the incriminating records and more than 40 kilograms of meth hidden inside a dishwasher and a safe.
Testing later confirmed 35 kilograms of the stash were pure meth, with an estimated street value of $8 million.
Officers also found $60,000 in cash, bags of MDMA and cocaine, and drug paraphernalia.
Investigators were able to confirm Jurkovic compiled the ledgers through forensic testing and handwriting analysis.
The methamphetamine hidden inside a large heavy-duty safe.Credit:AFP
Jurkovic in May pleaded guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of drugs, dealing with proceeds of crime worth $100,000 or more and dealing with proceeds of crime worth $50,000 or more.
He appeared in the County Court on Thursday, when Judge Rosemary Carlin sentenced the trafficker to 19 years and three months in prison.
The 44-year-old will need to serve a minimum of 12 years and three months before he is eligible for parole.
Images of the raid released by the AFP show large wads of $20 and $50 notes held together by rubber bands, and a grey metal safe filled to the brim with golden packets and large zip lock bags containing a white substance.
Another photograph shows at least four other packets stashed inside a Woolworths single-use plastic bag sitting on a dishwasher rack.
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