AFP Central Command, which covers South Australia and the Northern Territory, remained focused on targeting and disrupting transnational serious organised crime, child exploitation and human trafficking to keep Australians safe in 2024.
This year marked the first time the AFP laid debt bondage and servitude charges in South Australia after a Colombian national, 38, residing in the Adelaide suburb of Kilburn, was charged in November 2024.
Police allege the man maintained daily control of the victims, restricted their daily activities, and controlled their earnings. AFP officers arrested a second person in December 2024, also a Colombian national, after further investigation into her alleged role in the alleged exploitation of a number of victims.
Central Command also continued its focus on disrupting illicit drug operations, with AFP investigators in Adelaide seizing the second largest quantity of cocaine in South Australia's history. Two Victorian men were charged with allegedly attempting to possess 139kg of cocaine found inside a shipment of luxury buses in February 2024.
The plot was foiled after intelligence identified an alleged importation of cocaine concealed within a consignment of 13 luxury buses on board an international cargo ship destined for Adelaide, via Perth. The seizure stopped a potential 695,000 individual street deals from hitting the community and had an estimated street value of $45 million.
Investigators in Central Command were also involved in one of the AFP's most significant operational undertakings, Operation Kraken, a global takedown of an encrypted communications network. Ten search warrants were executed in South Australia with two individuals charged with trafficking commercial quantities of controlled drugs, while two threats to life were prevented.
AFP Commander Naomi Binstead said the AFP and its partners would continue to make Australia a hostile environment for transnational serious organised crime syndicates - both onshore and offshore to keep the community safe.
"Every day, the AFP and our domestic and international law enforcement partners are ramping up pressure against those criminals who have committed serious crimes. I'd like to thank AFP investigators and all support capabilities in Central Command, who confront each challenge with pride and dedication, to help keep Australians safe year after year," Commander Binstead said.
AFP Central Command also has a vital role in the protection of critical infrastructure across South Australia and the Northern Territory, including the protection of the Darwin and Adelaide Airports, Australian Government and defence facilities, and the protection of Australian dignitaries.
"The AFP works with state and territory law enforcement, intelligence agencies and other Commonwealth stakeholders to deliver protective security measures based on threat, risk and vulnerability," Commander Binstead said.
AFP's Central Command has also continued to maintain a strong focus on investigations relating to child abuse and exploitation offences. The South Australian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), comprising members from the AFP and South Australia Police, made 72 arrests relating to 310 offences in the past financial year. The Northern Territory Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (NT JACET), comprising members of AFP and Northern Territory Police, made 28 arrests relating to 225 offences in the past financial year.
Since its inception in 2015, SA JACET has removed more than 345 children from harm.
In June 2024, a South Australian man was sentenced to 22 years' imprisonment, one of the state's most significant jail terms, for soliciting sexually explicit material from 10 foreign children via social media platforms.
A Darwin man appeared in the Northern Territory Supreme Court last December where he pled guilty to 31 charges and was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment, one of the highest sentencings imposed in the Territory in the past 12 months.
In two separate matters, the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation team (CACT) in Central Command successfully applied to the South Australian and Northern Territory courts to have the homes of two separate online child abuse offenders either restrained or confiscated.
The AFP-led CACT successfully had the home of a Northern Territory man - sentenced for online child sex abuse offences - forfeited to the Commonwealth in July 2024, while the South Australian home of an alleged online child abuse offender was restrained in December 2024.
Commander Binstead also highlighted the critical priority of Counter Terrorism across the Command, with extensive work ongoing with partner agencies to positively engage local diaspora communities.
"The AFP's Central Command Community Liaison Teams (CLTs) are key to building trusted relationships with cultural communities in both South Australia and the Northern Territory.
"In 2024, our Central Command CLT coordinated a number of sporting and cultural events in Adelaide and regional South Australia, bringing together law enforcement and culturally and linguistically diverse communities in a positive and cooperative setting."
Commander Binstead said the successes of 2024 reflected the hard work and dedication of Central Command.
"The AFP's operational results and achievements highlight the incredible work we achieved in 2024, and we look forward to protecting Australians in 2025, and into the future."
