Real life ‘Breaking Bad’: Terminally ill father jailed for smuggling $60mn worth of meth
A terminally man has been jailed for 19 years in Australia for smuggling $60 million worth of methamphetamine in order to provide for his family in a case that has been likened to hit US show ‘Breaking Bad.”
Anthony John Scott, 45, who suffers from a terminal heart condition and experienced four heart attacks in the past 15 years pleaded guilty to smuggling over 47 kilograms of the drug along with up to 1,400 pseudoephedrine tablets from Indonesia last year, ABC reported.
The father-of-five had used his stone product and pavers importing business to smuggle the drugs, which were laced with pepper and hidden in a shipping container en route to Australia.
READ MORE: ‘I am the one who knocks’: Breaking Bad-themed malware blackmails Aussie users
The District Court in Adelaide heard how Scott was addicted to methamphetamine for the past 20 years and that he had been under the influence of the drug during the Australian Federal Police operation to catch him.
Judge Rauf Soulio called the entire operation “deluded,” adding that Scott’s plan could have led to the suffering of families of those taking the drugs.
“Methamphetamine is an insidious and dangerous drug,” Soulio said. “The offending was designed to make money to assist your family. You were aware of the serious consequences of dealing with drugs in Asian countries.”
The judge did add that Scott had been described as a caring father and decent person by his siblings, but that using drugs had a “serious impact” on his cardiac health.
“Perhaps ironically, your arrest has saved your life,” he said.
The main character from the American hit show Breaking Bad was a high school chemistry teacher who turned to a life of crime by producing and selling methamphetamine to ensure his family would be stable financially after being diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer.
READ MORE: Man’s suspiciously large crotch leads airport police to cocaine find (PHOTO)
