National

Ex-NSW police minister's brother admits trafficking ice

By AAP Newswire

Oct 18, 2023

Newcastle Courthouse (file image) — A magistrate has extended Joshua Toole's bail after he pleaded guilty to trafficking ice. -AAP Image

The brother of former NSW police minister and deputy premier Paul Toole has admitted large-scale drug trafficking.

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Joshua Toole, 40, who police claimed used the encrypted app Threema with the handle "Smiley" to run a criminal syndicate supplying drugs, pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday to one count of supplying a large commercial quantity of the drug ice.

Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining 33 charges against Toole following his guilty plea.

Magistrate Robert Stone continued Toole's strict bail conditions and adjourned the matter to Newcastle District Court next month for a sentencing date.

Toole was arrested in October last year by detectives from Strike Force Great after two kilograms of methylamphetamine with a street value of about $2 million and $220,000 in cash was seized during a series of raids at Belmont North, Nords Wharf and Wadalba.

Police claimed Toole had directed two other men and a woman to organise the supply of drugs and collect cash from three "dead drop" locations across the Hunter region and Central Coast.

Toole was granted bail by a Supreme Court judge in December after complaining he was being held like a "caged animal" in a cell for more than 23 hours a day.

He had been placed in segregation for his own protection by prison officials because of his "high-profile" brother and the publicity being generated by his case.

Paul Toole was the NSW deputy premier and police minister at the time of his bother's arrest and is now the shadow police minister after the Liberal Party lost the state election in March.

By AAP Newswire

Australian Associated Press