Drug Smuggling Poker Pro Jailed in Melbourne

30-year-old David Saab has been sentenced to a 14-year prison sentence for his role in smuggling $8.5 million worth of cocaine into Australia. 

Saab had once won $550,000 in a single season at Crown and other casinos.

Accomplices Darren Hughes, 27, and Robert Remeeus, 28, were given a combined 30-year jail term by Judge Liz Gaynor on Tuesday. 

Max Dunn of the Herald Tribune reports how it all went down: 

Customs and Australian Federal Police intercepted the air-cargo shipment on its way through Sydney on January 15 this year and replaced the cocaine with other material in plastic-wrapped parcels inside the legs of a mechanical spreader, the court heard.

Hughes - who also gained a seat at Crown's card tables as a serious poker player - was then monitored as he hired a van to bring the equipment to his Kew address, where it was later smashed open with a hammer to access what the trio believed was still cocaine, just before their arrest on January 24.

Dunn points out that the South Korean-born Saab has had a tough time while living in Australia.  Saab was also the primary organizer of the smuggling ring and stood to earn a $110,000 profit. 

- Ace King, Gambling911.com