'High profile' Geelong drug dealer arrested with cash, drugs and weapons

Alex Urquhart, 31, appeared via video link in the Geelong County Court on Thursday and pleaded guilty to trafficking commercial quantities of 1,4 butanediol and ice, as well as charges of handling suspected proceeds of crime and many weapons offenses.

According to documents released by the court, Urquhart was intercepted by police in his BMW after seeing him crossing Pakington St before 5am on June 1, 2022.

A search revealed a pocketknife, ziplock bags containing ice and heroin, more than $4,000 in cash and four more sets of car keys.

Police raided Urquhart's Moolap unit following his arrest, seizing a homemade weapon, steroids and a knife. Inside a Volkswagen stolen from Urquhart's shed, police found gun magazines, rifle scopes and boxes of ammunition as well as a bag filled with watches and jewelry.

More than 30 kg of 1,4 butanediol – 15 times the threshold for a commercial quantity – as well as more than 100 g of ice and $110,000 in cash were also found.

1,4 Butanediol, known as bute or “fancy liquid”, is a precursor to the party drug GHB.

CCTV footage found on Urquhart's phone from April 2022 showed him firing two shots at a ute which was speeding away from his home.

The court heard that Urquhart had spent around five of the last ten years behind bars.

Judge Marcus Dempsey told the court that Urquhart was a man with “an insatiable appetite for selling drugs” and asked his lawyer, barrister Jonathan Barreiro, what sentence he could impose to prevent him from reoffending .

Mr Barreiro said as Urquhart did not consider the consequences of offending, a punitive prison sentence would only work “to some extent” to deter him.

Urquhart's sentencing should instead focus on rehabilitation, Barreiro argued.

Mr Barreiro told the court that Urquhart spoke of the “tension” between “working long hours for not much money and being able to make a lot of money in a short time through drug dealing”.

Mr Barreiro said Urquhart was above a “street dealer”, but not at the top of the chain, simply projecting “the lifestyle where he is more of a kingpin than he is is in reality.”

Judge Dempsey said Urquhart's adoption of a drug dealer “persona” and his “attributes” was concerning.

Mr. Barreiro said the character was “a counterpoint to the way he grew up, someone ridiculed for wearing glasses and having asthma.”

The court heard Urquhart was an “intense drug user” and Mr Barreiro said although there had been times of stability in his life, things had tended to “go downhill quickly”.

Prosecutor Richard Pirrie said the prosecution “did not accept” that Urquhart's own drug use was “in any way a mitigating factor”, noting that the figure of 1.6g of ice per day cited in a psychologist's report was “self-reported” and “would kill.” an elephant”.

Urquhart will be sentenced on July 18.

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