http://www.theaustralian.com.au/archive/news/cousins-mentor-on-drugs-charge/story-e6frg6o6-1111116419571
A LONG-TIME friend and mentor to fallen AFL star Ben Cousins was behind bars last night after his arrest as part of a record drug bust in Western Australia.
Fabian Quaid, 31, appeared in Sydney’s Central Local Court yesterday, charged over the importation of 45kg of ecstasy into Perth. He is the fourth man to be held in connection with the alleged importation.
Mr Quaid was arrested on Monday at his Manly apartment, where Cousins reportedly stayed last year after an alleged cocaine binge in Los Angeles landed him in hospital.
In court yesterday, Mr Quaid – a former taekwondo expert – did not apply for bail. He was charged with trafficking in a commercial quantity of a controlled drug. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
The court formally refused bail and adjourned the case to June 6.
The arrest came after a state and federal taskforce seized drugs in Perth last month and substituted them with a fake powder while police kept the alleged importers under surveillance.
On Monday, police and Customs officers raided a house in Lockridge, in Perth’s east, arresting three people. Investigators said the 45kg of MDMA would have made more than 150,000 tablets, worth $4.7 million.
A 58-year-old Sydney man and a 31-year-old Melbourne man were charged with importing and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of MDMA.
A 39-year-old man from Queensland was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of MDMA.
The three appeared in Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
Additional reporting: Elizabeth Gosch and John Stapleton