Christopher Collins and Zarrius Thompson jailed and facing deportation after being caught with $1.7m in cash

Two cash couriers — who counted and then carried more than $1.7m in notes stuffed in a barrel on a ute — will spend years in prison before facing deportation to their native New Zealand. Christopher Collins, 39 and Zarrius Thompson, 34, were nabbed by detectives last year after the huge cash haul was discovered shrink-wrapped on the vehicle after it was pulled over on a Maddington street. Collins and a co-accused were in the Nissan Navara, along with the cash which was destined to be sent to New South Wales according to the address on the barrel. Moments later, a raid on a Carramar home found Thompson — along with a money counter, a cryovac machine and encrypted phones — which prosecutors said were for receiving instruction from his mysterious bosses. On September 8 last year, the instruction was to pick up $1,715,445 in cash from one address and take it to another in Banskia Grove. But the cash never arrived because the police got there first. And when Thompson was asked about his involvement he admitted it had not been the first run he had done. More than $15,000 in cash was found in his bedroom — payment for the work he had already done for the organised crime syndicate in which he was involved. Perth’s District Court was told both men were lured into the syndicate because of their significant money problems. Collins was drowning in debt after building his own house, and Thompson had taken out tens of thousands in personal loans after his daughter developed health problems. “Often we see the hierarchy remove themselves from detection and recruit others — the cannon fodder — to protect themselves,” Collins’ lawyer Michael Tudori said. “Transporting this amount he must be trusted … but the hierarchy also knows exactly who he is and who his family are.” Mr Tudori said once Collins leaves prison, he “won’t set foot in his family home” — because he will be deported back to New Zealand. Thompson will also face deportation. “It is a punishment to this offender and a punishment to his family,” Mr Tudori said Judge Nicholas Egan was told neither man knew what potential crimes the cash had come from nor what it was to be used for. But the sheer amount did tell them the money must have been dirty. He jailed Thompson for four and a half years, and Collins for four years. A third co-accused has yet to enter a plea to the charges.