A Scottish influencer and her boyfriend have appeared in a Sydney court charged over a £5.7m ketamine bust. Demi McDaid, 23, and Jack Farrelly, 30, both from Edinburgh, were arrested at a hotel in June after a raid by New South Wales Police officers.
Charges and bail refused
The couple appeared at Downing Centre and District Court in Sydney on Tuesday, August 25. They were charged in connection with the supply of a prohibited drug in a large commercial quantity. Both were refused bail after their five-minute appearances.
During the police raid, officers uncovered 107kg of ketamine from the couple's shared rental car, along with a number of mobile phones, more than $2,000 in cash and documents alleged to be drug ledgers. A further raid at a unit on Hampden Road in the suburb of Artarmon uncovered an additional 2kg of ketamine.
Alleged purpose of visit
NSW Police allege McDaid and Farrelly came to Australia with “the sole purpose of taking part in the distribution and supply of large commercial quantities of prohibited drugs”. In a statement, the force said at the time: “Further investigations into anyone else who may have been involved are underway”.
The alleged plot was unravelled after detectives were tipped off by locals to what was happening at a unit the couple had rented. According to cops, the major bust was a mix of “good old-fashioned police work” from senior detectives combined with the smarts of tech-savvy younger team members that allowed police to track the alleged owner of abandoned luggage to a hotel in North Sydney.
Street value and police warning
The drugs are understood to have an estimated street value of AUD$11 million - or roughly £5.7million. In images released by police, the couple's rental car can be seen packed with bags of the drug in Sydney. Other pictures show piles of ketamine packed on top of one another following the shocking haul.
Before the pair moved to Australia, McDaid filmed herself posing with designer bags and bragging about Farrelly flying her out to an unknown destination. In the video, she posed in an airport with a Chanel handbag and a Louis Vuitton holdall. The caption reads: "POV: He books you to a flight to where he is cause you miss each other that much and can't go a few days without seeing one another."
Acting Crime Manager for North Shore Police Area Command Detective Acting Inspector Alison Dixon said that drug syndicates are increasingly relying on the high turnover of temporary accommodation rentals to fly under the radar from law enforcement in Australia. She said: “We have seen this before in short stays and encourage property owners to be wary. People staying in hotels and Airbnbs, we see a lot of illegal activities come and go through those places. Stuff out of the ordinary that doesn’t look right... if it doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t.”
