A Sydney man arrested more than a year ago has admitted to his role in a million-dollar heroin bust near Albury.
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Lawrence Francis Gonzales was relaxed and cordial as he was committed for sentence in Albury Local Court.
The 34-year-old has pleaded guilty to supply a prohibited drug at not less than a large commercial quantity over the 2.2 kilograms of heroin found in his car on July 23, 2019.
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His case now will be listed as a sentence mention before the District Court in Albury on October 9.
"I understand Mr Gonzales is to be sentenced on sequence one, with sequence two (of possess a prohibited drug) to travel to the District Court as a back-up charge," Director of Public Prosecutions representative Alexander Dixon told magistrate Richard Funston this week.
Gonzales has been in custody, bail refused, ever since his arrest and appeared this week via a video link to Lithgow jail.
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Defence lawyer Kilic Cambaz, of Malouf Criminal Lawyers in Sydney, did not apply for bail on his client's behalf.
The court was told of a break-through in the case early last week.
An agreed set of facts had been finalised, but a week-long adjournment was required to allow these to be put before the court.
The case against Gonzales has been beset by delays, the most recent caused by legal funding issues.
A co-accused, Ryan Christopher Lotho, was freed from jail earlier this year when charges against him were dropped.
Gonzales was driving with Mr Lotho as his passenger when police pulled over their Subaru on the Hume Highway, near Holbrook, just before 2.30pm.
Police searched the car and, inside a hidden compartment in the boot, found six packages of heroin.
The car was owned by the father of Gonzales.
It was later revealed in court that the incident was an "off-shoot" of a major Sydney drug investigation.
Both men had been preparing to face trial, with charge certification already completed, when it was announced the DPP was dropping charges against Mr Lotho.
