A LAW enforcement taskforce has uncovered a group of container supply chain “trusted insiders” facilitating drug imports in Sydney.
The Multi-Agency Strike Team, comprising investigators from the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police Force, working the Australian Border Force, NSW Crime Commission NSWCC, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre and Australian Taxation Office, established Strike Force Paiporta tin April this year to target a criminal syndicate that allegedly had members working inside Sydney ports to facilitate the importation of commercial quantities of illegal drugs.
Three Sydney men have now been charged and about 506kg of cocaine and $330,000 cash seized after MAST investigators received intelligence that a group was allegedly planning to remove illicit drugs from an imported shipping container while it was stored at a sea freight facility in Sydney.
The shipping container had entered Australia with legitimate cargo, which was delivered and the seemingly empty shipping container returned to a storage area.
A Hillsdale man, 38, who worked as a forklift driver was observed moving shipping containers around the facility to access a specific shipping container which was later found to contain the cocaine, about 12.30am on Sunday [31 August]. A short time later police observed another man with a bag enter that shipping container.
MAST investigators entered the facility and arrested the man – a 25-year-old from Oyster Bay– as he exited the shipping container. Police found a crowbar, an angle grinder, ear protection, portable lights and other hand tools in the container, which they allege the man was using to cut into a false wall at the rear of the shipping container.
Specialist crime scenes teams attended, removed the false wall and found 506 individual blocks of white powder in a cavity covered in lead sheeting, with the contents testing positive for cocaine.
This shipment has an estimated street value of more than $164 million and could have been sold in the community as 2,530,000 individual 0.2 gram street deals, the AFP and NSWPF said.
A short time later the Hillsdale man returned to the container and was also arrested by MAST investigators.
Both men were transported to St George Police station where they were formally charged. A short time later investigators executed a search warrant at the Hillsdale man’s home where a 42-year-old Caringbah man was intercepted as he left the property and was found in possession of $200,000 in cash suspected of being the proceeds of crime. He was subsequently charged.
Further inquiries established the Caringbah man also worked at a logistics company as a forklift driver.
A second search warrant was executed at the home of the Oyster Bay man, where a further $130,000 in suspected proceeds of crime was located and seized. All three men appeared before Sutherland Local Court yesterday [1 September].
While the shipping container was sent from Europe, inquiries into the source of the illicit drugs and anyone involved in the importation plot remain ongoing.
AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said transnational serious organised crime groups routinely seek to exploit vulnerabilities at Australia’s gateways to the world, and the AFP, alongside partners, is committed to exposing these syndicates and bringing them before the courts.
“IFCBAA commends the work of MAST in relation to these arrests, which we understand to now be matters before the Court,” CEO Scott Carson said.
“The importation into Australia of illicit drugs and tobacco continues to be a concern not just for ABF and the relevant State and Federal law enforcement agencies, but also for our members, industry and the public.
“IFCBAA members receive periodic information and updates from ABF on how to assist in the detection of such illegal imports into Australia, in addition to encouraging the notification of suspicious behaviour and documentation to ABF through reporting initiatives such as Border Watch,’’ Mr Carson said.
MAST noted that transnational serious organised crime (TSOC) groups are focused on finding ‘a door’ into Australia to import and move their illicit commodities. A trusted insider is any person who, through their employment or association with a supply chain business, uses their access to goods, systems, or premises for malicious purposes to facilitate TSOC-related activities without law enforcement detection.
“Trusted insiders are very valuable and highly sought by TSOC groups. They act as key enablers to compromise the supply chain and allow illicit goods into Australia, causing harm to NSW communities.
“The MAST aims to disrupt TSOC groups by targeting trusted insiders to ‘close the door into Australia’. The MAST is commodity-agnostic and will target anyone who uses a position of trust within the supply chain to enable TSOC groups to bring illicit goods into Australia.
“The MAST has 41 full-time investigators and analysts from both Commonwealth and NSW law enforcement agencies, leveraging the capabilities, resources and legislative powers to investigate and target trusted insiders assisting transnational serious organised crime syndicates impacting NSW.”