Two Melbourne-based criminal syndicate members have been sentenced to a combined 33 years' behind bars for attempting to import over $97.7 million dollars' worth of methamphetamine into Australia.
An Aintree man, 29, and a Melbourne man, 39, were sentenced in the Melbourne County Court today (Friday 28 June, 2024), after pleading guilty over their failed attempts to import a total of 488kg of methamphetamine into Australia in two separate consignments sent from Thailand and Malaysia in 2020.
The AFP charged the men following a six-month investigation into a series of air-freight consignments containing the border-controlled drug arriving into Australia from South-East Asia.
ABF officers intercepted the first consignment which arrived into Sydney from Thailand in August 2020, locating 288.44kg of pure methamphetamine concealed inside tins of coconut milk.
The second consignment was detected by ABF after arriving in Sydney from Malaysia on 21 September, 2020. It contained 160.3kg of pure methamphetamine hidden inside four air compressors.
During the investigation, police identified a Melbourne-based criminal syndicate linked to the facilitation and delivery of the consignments containing the illicit drugs.
AFP intelligence revealed the syndicate had cloned 20 legitimate existing companies and were posing as fake representatives in order to communicate with freight companies to facilitate the delivery of the consignments.
A number of offenders were charged by the AFP, including a Sydney man sentenced to six years' imprisonment for his role in attempting to possess 288kg of meth concealed inside the cans of coconut milk.
The AFP executed a search warrant at a business in Ravenhall, Melbourne, where police located and arrested the two men on 12 November, 2020. Police seized a number of electronic devices, bank cards and documents containing fraudulent identification.
Police executed a number of search warrants on the same day across Melbourne and arrested and charged a third person, a 36-year-old woman at an Aintree residence.
During the search warrants, police seized multiple electronic devices, $682,000 in illicit cash, two clip-seal bags containing 90.7g of pure cocaine and two bottles containing 929g of 1,4-butanediol.
The three offenders were charged by the AFP on 12 November, 2020.
The woman was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in the Melbourne County Court on Thursday 2 May, 2024, after pleading guilty to supporting a criminal organisation contrary to subsection 390.4(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
She was released on a $1000 recognizance release order on the condition she is of good behaviour for three years.
The Aintree man was sentenced to 16 years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of 10.5 years' and the Melbourne man to 17 years' imprisonment with a non-parole of 11 years' in the Melbourne County Court on Friday 28 June, 2024.
AFP Detective Superintendent Simone Butcher said methamphetamine was an extremely addictive illicit drug and caused immense psychological, financial and social harm to users and those around them.
"The illicit drug supply chain is littered with harm and had 488kg of methamphetamine made its way onto our streets, it would have spread through our suburbs, fueling more violence, crime and drug addiction," Det. Supt Butcher said.
"Methamphetamine accounts for 8% of all drug-related hospitalisations in Australia.*"
"Today's sentencing outcome marks a significant result for the dedicated AFP investigators who prevented a substantial quantity of drugs from reaching our community and I'd like to thank them for their incredible efforts," she said.
"The AFP will continue to collaborate with Victoria Police and Australian Border Force to disrupt attempts made by organised crime groups to import large quantities of illicit drugs into Australia and profit at the expense of the community."
List of Charges:
The Aintree man, 29, pled guilty to:
- Two counts of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug, contrary to subsections 11.1(1) and 307.5(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth), by virtue of subsection 11.2A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth);
- Two counts of trafficking in a drug of a dependence, namely cocaine, contrary to subsection 71AC(1) of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic); and
- Fail to comply with an order under subsection 3LA(2) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth), contrary to subsection 3LA(6) of the Crimes Act 1914 (Cth).
The Melbourne man, 39, pled guilty to:
- Two charges of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug, contrary to subsections 11.1(1) and 307.5(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth), by virtue of subsection 11.2A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth);
- Dealing in proceeds of crime offence, money or property worth $10,000 or more - contrary to section 400.6(2) of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The following charge was taken into account in sentencing the offender, in accordance with section 16BA of the Crimes Act 1914 :
- Attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug, contrary to subsections 11.1(1) and 307.5(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth), by virtue of subsection 11.2A(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth);
* Australia Institute of Health and Welfare
