IN the hours after three Vietnamese nationals were stopped in a car at Adamstown and 18 kilograms of cannabis was discovered in the boot, a woman called a business associate and said "I think my soldiers have been bitten by the dogs".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The prosecution say the woman on the call, on all the calls discussing cannabis supply and cultivation, negotiating prices and delegating work to the "soldiers" or "underlings" that work for her, is Nga White, also known as Emily White, a Newcastle nail and beauty salon owner.
The defence say it is not Ms White on the calls and dispute she had any knowledge of or involvement in directing the sophisticated cannabis syndicate.
Ms White, now 48, on Monday pleaded not guilty to directing a criminal group, cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying a commercial quantity of cannabis and is facing a judge-alone trial in Newcastle District Court.
During his closing address, Crown prosecutor Brendan Queenan took Acting Judge Stephen Walmsley, SC, through a web of text messages and intercepted telephone calls, weaving what he alleged Ms White had said about the drug supply business with what was not in dispute, the discovery of large quantities of cannabis in the car at Adamstown and in a commercial premises at Steel Street, Newcastle West.
And Mr Queenan repeatedly returned to the issue of Ms White allegedly using two phones, one for legitimate business and the other for her alleged drug empire.
And, from Mr Queenan's submissions, it seemed Ms White had been careful to avoid any connection to the drug supply operation, save for a few mistakes.
At one point, in the days before the drug busts when Ms White has allegedly negotiated a large supply with a customer, she appears to leave the phone she uses to conduct drug activity in her car. When one of her "underlings" can't reach her on that phone, he calls the other one, her "important phone number".
As Mr Queenan pointed out, it was the only time that man, a Vietnamese national, later arrested and jailed over the cannabis found in the car, called her on the phone registered in Ms White's name.
Mr Queenan said the phone used to conduct the drug operation had at one point accidentally pocket dialed triple-zero.
When the operator called the number back, Mr Queenan said it was clear the person who answered said her name was Emily.
The trial continues.
