A drug kingpin was raking in $5000 a week as a professional poker player while on the run from the law for more than two years, NSW Police allege.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Darren Rispen, 42, had also allegedly tapped into an electricity network to power drug premises in Sydney’s west where more than 720 cannabis plants and 4.5 kilograms of cannabis were later seized.
At an address across town, police say they found more than 110kg of methamphetamine, 11kg of cannabis and 3kg of methorphan.
Rispen was, until Monday, one of NSW’s most wanted men.
He was on bail in 2014 for charges relating to the alleged supply of drugs by a criminal syndicate when police say he failed to show up to court.
His mother was the guarantor of the total $700,000 bail which she had agreed to forfeit if he didn’t appear.
Rispen allegedly did a runner, changing his name, growing a beard and creating a new life with a partner who had no idea of his true identity.
But his life on the lam came to an end this week when he was arrested at Nelson Bay in the state’s Hunter region on Monday.
He’d been under surveillance by officers from State Crime Command’s Middle Eastern Organised Crime Squad.
Court papers reveal Rispen has said he’s recently been unemployed and a ‘‘professional poker player making on average $5000 a week in winnings’’.
Rispen briefly appeared at Raymond Terrace Local Court on Tuesday but did not apply for bail and it was formally refused by Magistrate Caleb Franklin.
The case was adjourned to Campbelltown Local Court on July 5 where he will face 30 charges including two counts of failing to appear at court in accordance with bail conditions.
The remaining charges - from 2014 - relate to alleged drug supply and possession, knowingly directing a criminal group, dealing with the proceeds of crime, dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, and using and interfering with energy network operators.
Police allege he was at the top of a western Sydney drug syndicate.
In court documents, they allege Rispen was in possession of and supplied commercial quantities of methamphetamine, methorphan and cannabis at three locations.
He also allegedly made a fraudulent car insurance claim and dealt with more than $63,000 believed to be the proceeds of crime.
AAP
