Aussie poker pro David Saab jailed for drug smuggling

Aussie poker pro David Saab jailed for drug smuggling

Wednesday, 14 September 2011

An Aussie professional faces a lengthy spell behind bars after pleading guilty to importing 14.6kg of cocaine into Australia. David Saab, who won the Manila leg of the Asian Poker Tour and had a 46th place finish in the WSOP Main Event in 2008, was sentenced alongside accomplices and fellow poker players Darren Francis Hughes and Robert Alan Remeeus in Melbourne yesterday.

The drugs, which had an estimated street value of AU$6.5m (£4.22m), were concealed in agricultural equipment sent from Canada. Police followed the shipment from its arrival in Sydney to Melbourne where the trio were arrested and subsequently charged. Saab, who appeared on British TV screens in a heat of the UK Open, was given 14 years in prison for his part in the smuggling operation with Hughes and Remeeus both getting eight-year sentences.


Judge Liz Gaynor singled Saab out for his role in the crime saying, “It is clear that you were the principal organiser in Australia of this importation and would derive the most benefit from it.”


Saab has career tournament earnings of $550,720. He'll have to wait some time before trying to add to that total.


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Tags: David Saab, prison