A NSW businessman has been jailed for at least 19 years and six months over a plot to import more than 1.2 tonnes of cocaine into Australia.
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Stockyards director and steel importer Rohan Peter Arnold, 45, pleaded guilty to conspiring to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs into Australia in 2017.
The 2576 blocks of cocaine - with an estimated value of more than $500 million - were found hidden within prefabricated steel, Australian Federal Police said previously.
In the NSW District Court on Thursday, Judge Jane Culver jailed Arnold for 27 years, with a non-parole period of 19 years and six months.
She gave him a 25 per cent discount for his guilty plea.
Arnold, who was arrested in January 2018 at a luxury hotel in Belgrade, will be eligible for release on parole in July 2037.
Australian Associated Press