EX-COP JAILED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING

A FORMER Queensland policeman now living in Tasmania was today
sentenced to 12 months' jail for drug trafficking.

Daniel Richard Belbin, 32, pleaded guilty in the Hobart Supreme Court
earlier this week to trafficking in a controlled substance, namely a
mixture of methylamphetamine and ketamine.

The mixture is a less expensive and potent equivalent to the drug
ecstasy.

The court was told Belbin, a former police officer with previous
convictions for assault and fraud, was sent the drugs - with a street
value of about $15,000 - in the post last December.

But Tasmania Police intercepted the package and repacked it with some
of the original contents and the equivalent weight of placebos.

The package was then collected by Belbin and discovered by police in a
toilet during a subsequent search of his home.

In sentencing Belbin, Justice Pierre Slicer said the offender had
intended to sell the tablets to a circle of friends and acquaintances,
and intended to use it himself.

"The trafficking of amphetamines is regarded as both serious and
dangerous," Justice Slicer said.

"The value was significant and the conduct commercial in
nature."

He imposed a non-parole period of six months.