A woman who helped her girlfriend buy equipment from Kmart that was used to unpack a drug shipment has been spared jail time after a NSW judge said the case was "extraordinary" and "very unusual".

Rose Helena Thomas, 26, and her former partner Norma Alicia Zuniga Frias, 26, were arrested in March 2018 after Australian Federal Police discovered 15.87 kilograms of methamphetamine stashed inside speakers that arrived in Sydney.

Rose Thomas leaves court on Friday after being sentenced. Credit:Edwina Pickles

The drugs, with an estimated street value of $13.6 million, were swapped for an inert substance and delivered by police on February 27 to an address in Rozelle. Zuniga Frias – a Mexican national on a student visa – accepted the delivery at a home she had rented on Airbnb.

Thomas then drove Zuniga Frias to Kmart at the Broadway shopping centre, where the pair bought five backpacks and a 30-piece screwdriver set. They also went to a chemist where Zuniga Frias bought bathroom scales.