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- New South Wales police have charged three men over an alleged crime syndicate conspiring to bring $900 million worth of cocaine to Australia
- The police began investigating the syndicate after being tipped off about one of the men’s exorbitant gambling habits
- NSW police intelligence led to the US Navy seizing 1770 kilograms of cocaine off the coasts of North and South America
- The men were caught after one of them was lured to a Macquarie Lake storage area by replicas of the seized items made by police
- They face charges including conspiracy to supply prohibited drugs on a commercial scale, large commercial drug supply, and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity
New South Wales police have charged three men over an alleged transnational crime syndicate conspiring to bring $900 million worth of cocaine to Australian shores.
Police said this morning it worked with the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to stop over three tonnes of cocaine from coming into Australia — the largest quantity of cocaine to ever come into the country.
The three men, aged 42, 37, and 58, face charges including conspiracy to supply prohibited drugs on a commercial scale, large commercial drug supply, and participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.
The criminal dealings were first brought to the police’s attention in early 2020 thanks to a tip-off about one of the men’s exorbitant gambling habits. The man had allegedly bet up to $100 million in just one week last year.
The gambling tip led to an investigation, which in turn led to a major drug bust in October 2020. According to the police, the US Navy — acting on NSW Police intelligence — seized 870 kilograms of cocaine from a boat off the coast of Colombia last year.
In April 2021, the US Coast Guard seized another 900 kilograms of cocaine from a boat off the coast of Ecuador — again following NSW Police intelligence.
According to police, this 1770-kilogram bust was just part of a conspiracy to take a total of 3000 kilograms of the hard drug to New South Wale streets, which would have a total street value just shy of $1 billion.
New South Wales detectives made replicas of the packages they seized in April and placed the copies in a storage facility in the Lake Macquarie area to lure the drug importers.
The first of the three men arrested was caught after allegedly trying to access the replica items.
All three men were refused bail.
