AN associate of the Rebels motorcycle gang funded drug buys for an $11 million amphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy ring using the virtual currency Bitcoin, the Hobart Supreme Court has heard.

A key player in one of the state’s biggest drug importation rings appeared yesterday for sentence after pleading guilty to trafficking.

Acting Director of Public Prosecution Darryl Coates said the crimes of Nicholas Mark Stebbins, 27, of Blackmans Bay, were aggravated by the fact he kept dealing in drugs while on bail.

The offences Stebbins was charged with took place between 2012 and last year.

He sourced drugs from China in amounts of up to 1.7kg at a time which were then shipped by parcel post or courier to addresses including those of friends and associates.

type_quote_start “The amounts seized by Tasmania Police would be a significant portion of what is seized by them in a year.” type_quote_end

Seven parcels were intercepted in a joint operation by Tasmania Police, the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.

The largest package contained 1.78kg of amphetamines, another contained 1kg of MDMA, or ecstasy.

He sent $116,000 to his Chinese suppliers via Western Union and $146,000 via Bitcoin agent Cryptospend in 17 transactions, the court heard.

When police raided his house they found drugs, scales, computers and mobile phones as well as a tick sheet with $40,000 worth of credit outstanding from buyers.

Mr Coates urged Justice David Porter to sentence the accused to a significant period of imprisonment.

“Even when he suspected police were on to him, he still continued,” he said.

“The amounts seized by Tasmania Police would be a significant portion of what is seized by them in a year.”

The court heard of a text in which Stebbins was asked by an associate in Brisbane to put a large quantity of cash in a white golf bag that the associate’s parents were bringing from Hobart to Queensland.

Tasmania Police executed a search on the bag at Hobart airport, where it was discovered to contain $30,000 but the cash was not seized so as not to tip off the offenders.

Defence lawyer James Crotty told the court his client had saved the state the cost of a trial by pleading guilty, had ­become drug-free and had publicly renounced membership of the Rebels.

Stebbins “does not have an orchestra waiting for him to raise his baton, he is a second fiddle at best”, Mr Crotty said.

Justice Porter remanded Stebbins in custody for sentencing on March 12.