Three members of an alleged Victorian-based criminal syndicate accused of serious drug offences have been charged in Melbourne, as part of a major criminal disruption under AFP Operation Kraken.
The Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF), comprising of AFP and Victoria Police members, arrested the men at Docklands, Keysborough and Dallas in the early hours of Tuesday morning (17 September, 2024).
It will be alleged the syndicate used encrypted communications devices and the Ghost platform to plan and execute illicit drug supply and distribution operations across Victoria.
Police will also allege the syndicate used the platform to organise the movement and trafficking of about 128kg of methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA between January and June this year (2024).
Two Melbourne businessmen - a Docklands man, 36, who police will allege is the ringleader of the syndicate, and a Keysborough man, 34, - are accused of using the criminal platform that has now been disrupted and shut down by law enforcement.
A third person, a 32-year-old Dallas man, was also charged.
The men were arrested at their homes.
They are accused of trafficking large quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine as part of their roles in the criminal syndicate.
The Victorian JOCTF executed search warrants across several Melbourne properties today, including at Dallas, Keysborough and at a Cranbourne North property where several cannabis plants were seized.
Operation Kraken-Rishi was launched in June 2024 to investigate alleged criminals using the encrypted communications platform to conduct illicit activity in Melbourne.
On 6 June, 2024, the Victorian JOCTF initially charged the Docklands and Keysborough men in relation to alleged serious drug trafficking offences.
The two men were arrested after investigators allegedly identified them engaged in a drug transaction in Port Melbourne.
A search warrant was executed on the men's two vehicles and police detected a concealed compartment inside one of the vehicles that allegedly contained two electronic devices, a scale, and 12 clip seal bags each containing about 1kg of crystalline methamphetamine.
Police seized a 1kg brick of cocaine, three electronic devices, and $30,000 cash from inside the other vehicle.
The Victorian JOCTF then executed search warrants at homes in Docklands and Keysborough, along with businesses in South Melbourne and Port Melbourne.
At the time, police allegedly seized an unregistered Glock 26 firearm, four boxes of ammunition, four computers, seven mobile devices, and about $4,000 in cash at the Docklands home. Eighteen electronic devices were seized from the Port Melbourne business.
Both men were charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of a drug of dependence, contrary to section 71 of the Drug, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic). The Docklands man was also charged with firearm offences.
The men were both arrested again today (17 September) following the discovery of new evidence uncovered as part of Operation Kraken-Rishi, which led investigators to allege the Docklands and Keysborough men were users of the Ghost encrypted communications platform.
The pair, and the 32-year-old man faced the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on 17 September, 2024, charged with the following offences:
The Docklands man, has been charged with:
- One count of traffick a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) between 3 April and 6 June 2024; and
- One count of traffick large commercial qantity of cocaine, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) between 8 April and 6 June 2024.
The Keysborough man 34, has been charged with:
- One count of traffick a large commercial quantity of cocaine, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) on 16 January 2024;
- One count of traffick a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) between 18 April and 6 June 2024; and
- One count of traffick a large commercial quantity of MDMA, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) between 16 January and 6 June 2024.
The Dallas man, 32, has been charged with:
- One count of traffick a large commercial quantity of methylamphetamine, contrary to section 71 of the Drugs, Poisons & Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) between 3 April and 6 April, 2024.
The maximum penalty for the trafficking offence is life imprisonment.
