TONY MOKBEL GUILTY OF COCAINE DEAL

Millionaire Faced Further Charges

Fugitive Tony Mokbel Has Been Found Guilty Of Smuggling Cocaine Into
Australia.

A jury deliberated for just an hour before finding the absent
millionaire guilty of being knowingly concerned in the importation of
drugs from Mexico in late 2000.

Underworld boss Mokbel, 40, has been on the run since reporting on
bail on March 19. Police told the court their investigations revealed
he had absconded and was not dead, as his lawyers feared.

The trial went on without him and his legal team.

After yesterday's verdict Justice Bill Gillard lifted suppression
orders to allow details of Mokbel's other drug deals to be revealed --
including that he was set to plead guilty to trafficking in ecstasy,
speed and cocaine.

The jury was not allowed to hear that the property developer was also
facing a charge of inciting another to import drugs -- an offence
allegedly committed just last year while he was already on two sets of
bail for drugs crimes.

He was the first person in Australia charged with that
offence.

The 12 jurors did not hear details of Mokbel's long criminal history,
dating back to 1983, including that he once tried to bribe a County
Court judge in a drug case.

But they did see plenty of twists, from the disappearance of the
high-profile defendant and the departure of his lawyers to the
discharging of a juror for nodding at Mokbel and approaching security
staff.

Yesterday the judge thanked the jury and told them he agreed entirely
with its decision, saying the prosecution case was very strong.

Mokbel pleaded not guilty, saying he was not the money man
behind

the importation in November 2000 of 1.9kg of pure cocaine, hidden in
candles and statues.

The jury heard Mokbel had an inside man at the freight company that
was to receive the packages containing the drugs.

It was his job to remove them before Customs checks and pass them on
to Mokbel's team.

The court also heard evidence from the man who made the drug
arrangements in Mexico -- a former associate of Mokbel known only as
Mr K, who pleaded guilty in return for his evidence.

But in the end, the wealthy property developer convicted himself with
his own words, caught cunningly on tape by a trusted associate who had
turned police informer.

Mokbel, who is believed to have arranged drugs deals worth $2 billion,
this time stood to make just over $100,000.

"I don't know why I bothered risking it in the end, because this is
just small beer to me. I usually do bigger deals," he told the informer.

The jury heard Mokbel openly discussing "coke" with the informer,
including arranging a code for them to use when speaking on the phone
about their deals.

"Say, 'Is your horse in race three tomorrow?' " Mokbel told the
informer; the race number would indicate the amount of cocaine required.

A mad punter, once part of a group known in racing circles as the
Tracksuit Gang for their designer casual wear, Mokbel was banned from
casinos and racetracks in Victoria under Chief Commissioner Christine
Nixon's special powers.

Justice Gillard adjourned sentencing until tomorrow.