THE AUSTRALIAN Border Force and the Australian Federal Police say they are making headway preventing the importation of illicit drugs into Australia.
The ABF has reported preventing 145 kilos of cocaine from entering Australian shores in the past month.
Criminal plots have attempted to smuggle almost $50 million worth of cocaine into the country, hidden in the motor compartments of refrigerated shipping containers.
The Australian Federal Police seized the drugs and are conducting further inquiries.
AFP detective acting superintendent Aaron Burgess said criminals should be warned their activities were being monitored.
“The AFP is regularly attending Sydney ports and seizing significant quantities of harmful drugs, including cocaine, along with tracking devices,” he said.
Four men, aged between 22 and 32, were sentenced to prison, ranging from three to seven years’, for their roles in breaking into a logistics park to collect 42kg of cocaine stored inside a refrigerated shipping container.
The seizures are said to continue “a recent trend of criminal syndicates hiding drugs and other border-controlled goods, particularly cocaine, inside refrigerated shipping containers”.
Criminals attempted to break into docks, container facilities or other storage areas to remove the drugs after the containers arrived.
Earlier this month, 40 blocks of cocaine—each weighing about one kilo—were detected by ABF officers at Port Botany, hidden inside a shipping container consigned from South America.
Another 25 one-kilogram block of cocaine was found in the motor of a refrigerated shipping container on October 1.
ABF superintendent Matt O’Connor said officers were monitoring for suspicious behaviour, both at our ports and within partner logistics companies, assessing for any potential trusted insider threat.
“ABF officers regularly conduct inspections at licensed depots to bolster supply chain integrity and maintain an awareness of the comings and goings of persons involved in said supply chain,” he said.
“We are assessing containers onboard vessels prior to their movement onto the port, looking for any anomalies and working closely with our partner intelligence agencies to target consignments that may flag a higher risk profile.”