A Sydney man, 35, will appear before Downing Centre Local Court today (5 February, 2025) after he was detained on a boat off the Northern Territory coast in a multi-agency operation on 26 January, 2025.
The man is accused of being a member of a criminal syndicate which used the AN0M platform - an encrypted communications application used by organised crime - and conspiring to import illicit drugs into Australia. He was charged in July, 2023, after an investigation as part of Operation Ironside. He was granted bail at a later date.
An arrest warrant was issued for the man after he failed to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on 20 January, 2025. He had last been seen on 8 January, 2025, at a rehabilitation facility in Swan Bay, NSW, where he resided as part of his bail conditions.
A sighting of the man at East Woody Beach, Nhulunbuy, NT, on 25 January, 2025, led to the deployment of an Australian Border Force Maritime Border Command patrol boat, which intercepted a yacht in the Arafura Sea.
The man was identified as a passenger and was transported to Gove, NT, with the assistance of Northern Territory Police. He was then detained by AFP investigators under the NSW arrest warrant.
He arrived in Sydney on 4 February, 2025, following his extradition from the NT.
The man was charged in July, 2023, with:
- One count of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, namely methamphetamine, contrary to sections 307.1 and 11.5 of the Criminal Code (Cth);
- One count of trafficking commercial quantities of a controlled drug, contrary to section 302.2(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth); and
- One count of breach of a firearm prohibition order (FPO) by acquiring or possessing a firearm, contrary to section 74(1) of the Firearms Act 1996 (NSW).
He has not been convicted of the charges and the matters remain before court in NSW.
Both drug offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, while the maximum penalty for the FPO breach is five years' imprisonment.
