Cocaine Smuggling Poker and Blackjack Master Sentenced to Prison
Cocaine Conviction
David Saab, a poker and blackjack master, and his two henchmen were given lengthy prison sentences for smuggling 14.6kg of cocaine into Australia.
David “ZanderFish” Saab, a high flying poker and online casino blackjack professional along with his two henchmen were sentenced for importing 14.6kg of pure, uncut Columbian cocaine into Melbourne, Australia.
Blackjackchamp.com reported on his initial arrest on February 13, 2011 – Gang of Top Poker and Blackjack Champs Caught Trafficking Cocaine.
According to casino gambling news, Saab, as the leader of the gang, was given a 14 year term – the equivalent of 1 year for each kilogram of nose candy expected by eager Australian punters he smuggled inside agricultural equipment from Canada.
His two henchmen, Darren Hughes, 27, and Robert Remeeus, 28, were each given 8 years each, with a mandatory minimum of 5 years.
The crystalline white powder had a street value of between $2 million to $10 million dollars, depending on how it was sold, the police stated.
Saab already had customers lined up, and was to make a measly $110,000 from the entire shipment while the henchmen were promised $10,000 each.
The Columbian marching powder was secreted in plastic sealed bags inside a mechanical spreader and was uncovered at the air-cargo shipment terminal upon arrival in Melbourne by Customs and Australian Federal Police.
The clever cops replaced the devil’s dandruff with some baby powder and allowed Saab to pick up the spreader, deliver it to the gang’s hideout and dismantle the machine. The cops busted in just as the gang were drinking some beer and were caught as they were preparing to powder their noses.
David Saab was a whiz at cards and after winning a few poker and blackjack tournaments, started rubbing shoulders with the rich and the powerful, the court heard from Robert Richter QC, Mr. Saab’s barrister.
It was in these smoke filled underground poker rooms that he met various organized crime figures and decided to get involved in trafficking cocaine for some easy cash.
Judge Gaynor said Saab was chief organizer of the smuggling operation and prior to giving Saab a minimum of 10 years for cocaine importation, said the “illusory world you have constructed for yourself” had been shattered as had “your delusions of wealth”.
Legal experts were shocked at the disparity in the sentencing between violent criminals and drug smugglers.
One legal observer stated “had Saab kidnapped a teenager, brutally tortured, sodomized, raped her, and then cut out her tongue, he would have been given a much lesser sentence than 10-14 years, which is an outrage.”
