David Saab, a thirty year old professional poker player from Australia, was handed a fourteen year jail term for his role in the smuggling of cocaine from Canada to Melbourne. The drugs had a street value of $8.5 million.
Saab is well known on the professional circuit Down Under and won $550K in one season playing at the Crown and other casinos in the country. The court was told that the once bankrupt Saab saw his luck turn when he tried his hand at backgammon, before discovering that he had a talent for poker and won two big tournaments in 2008. However, rubbing shoulders with high stakes poker players led Saab to look for more ways to make money and he got involved in the drug operation.
Australian authorities intercepted the delivery of agricultural equipment stuffed with plastic bags of cocaine and exchanged the drugs for dummy packages. They then monitored Saab and his accomplices as they took access of the equipment and smashed them open with a hammer in a bid to get to the ‘cocaine’. With this proof in hand, the men were arrested in January 2011.
According to Judge Gaynor who handed down the sentence, Saab’s “illusionary world” that he had “constructed” for himself had been shattered following his arrest, as well as his “delusions of wealth”. Saab had stood to make $110,000 for organizing the Australian end of the operation. The other two men, Robert Reemus and Darren Hughes, were handed sentences of eight years each. Hughes’ payment for his involvement was $10,000 it was learned.
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