NSW cancer sufferer who smuggled drugs walks free from jail
A NSW cancer sufferer, who admitted to being involved in an international drug-smuggling syndicate, has walked free from jail after an appeal.
Pilot Bernard Stevemuer, 43, was arrested and jailed after police busted the smuggling operation in raids on Albion Park Airport and his Wollongong home in July.
Officers found $70,000 in cash at Stevemuer’s home, and he pleaded guilty to flying three planes from the US, Malaysia and Cambodia between 2012 and 2014, as part of the operation.
Stevemuer’s Albion Park company Always Airborne had also been used by the syndicate to launder money, the court heard at his trial.
His involvement in the $20-million drug syndicate bore strong similarities to the plot of hit US drama Breaking Bad, in which main character Walter White turned to drug manufacturing to provide for his family after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Stevemuer appealed his nine-month sentence and walked free from Sutherland court today.
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