Not only was the Albury dealer arrested, Hadil, 28, and Haval Kada, 30, were also charged with trafficking methamphetamine.

The Melbourne-based brothers pleaded guilty and appeared in the County Court on Friday where Judge Geoffrey Chettle sentenced them both to three years and nine months in jail, with a minimum of two years.

“You both sold methamphetamine, or ice, to a drug dealer operating in the Albury area,” he said.

“You Hadil were the prime mover in the offending, you were the organiser.”

Hadil organised 344.4 grams of ice to be sent to Albury before he was arrested on October 22, 2015, in his car with 7.1g of ice, five ecstasy tablets and $9554 cash.

The court heard Haval delivered 277.7g of the drugs to Albury and collected payments, based on a price of about $7000 per ounce.

The purity of the methamphetamine varied from 62 to 79 per cent.

Police also found 34g of cocaine at the brothers’ home.

“Your offending was well-planned, lucrative and involved substantial quantities of cash and drugs,” Judge Chettle said.

“The public is sick of the devastation drugs of addiction cause to our community.

“Lives, particularly young lives, are ruined by drugs of addiction.”

Twelve drug ring members were arrested as part of Albury’s task force Boromi, Wodonga’s task force Irontrain and the Melbourne Fawkner Drug Unit operation.

The Kada brothers had been forced to flee from Iraq with their family as children and settled as refugees in Australia in 1997.

They were both educated and ran construction and restaurant businesses in Melbourne before turning to drugs.

References described Hadil as reliable and ethical, and Haval as sincere and compassionate.

“You both claim to be drug free and both have strong family and community support,” Judge Chettle said.

“The steps you have taken since your arrest indicate your steps towards rehabilitation are good.”