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A Sydney man, linked to organised crime, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment after coordinating the importation of 100kg of cocaine worth more than $40 million in the cargo hold of a passenger plane.
An Australian Federal Police investigation into the importation began in October 2022 following a report from an airline about suspicious activity near the cargo area of a Sydney-bound flight at Johannesburg, South Africa.
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Two men with access to the restricted zones of Sydney Airport – also known as trusted insiders – were identified and suspected of using their employment to access and remove items from the cargo hold of an inbound aircraft, bypassing regular security screening measures.
Following a 12-month investigation, investigators were able to link the Padstow man to the trusted insiders and confirm his position as coordinator of the importation.
His jail term follows the sentencing of three other men – including two trusted insiders – to a combined maximum of 15 years and nine months’ imprisonment for their role in the same criminal enterprise.
AFP investigators disrupted the syndicate as they offloaded the cocaine – with an estimated street value of $40 million – from an aircraft and arrested the 44-year-old at Rushcutters Bay. One member of the alleged syndicate remains before the courts.
Australian Aviation previously covered the investigations into the group, with at least two of whom appear to have worked for Qantas subsidiary Jets Transport Express.
The men were caught by the Australian Federal Police with five bags, each containing 20 kilograms of cocaine, in a car near the airport in October 2023, with their two alleged accomplices – the Padstow man in his forties and a Hillsdale man in his sixties – arrested soon after.
“The Mascot and Coogee men were identified as trusted insiders using their employment at Sydney Airport to facilitate the importation of drugs from the inbound flight. The Sydney man’s role was to collect the cocaine from the airport precinct for onward distribution in Australia,” the AFP said in a press release.
“The three men were found guilty of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, namely cocaine, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth) and possessing a commercial quantity of cocaine, contrary to section 307.5 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Cth).
“Two further members of the alleged criminal syndicate remain before the courts.”
Codenamed “Operation Lucian”, the AFP investigation had been in progress since reports of suspicious activity at the airport in October 2022.
According to AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty, the AFP and its partners are “determined to stop organised crime groups seeking to import illicit substances through our airports”.
“Transnational serious organised crime groups routinely seek to exploit vulnerabilities at Australia’s gateways to the world, and the AFP, alongside our partners, are committed to exposing these syndicates and bringing them before the courts,” he said.
“To anyone lured in by the false promise of shallow riches from drug importations – these offences carry the potential of life in jail. You are up against a well-resourced, capable and unrelenting opposition in the AFP and our partners.
“Operation Lucian spared Australians from the violence, addiction and further criminality this shipment of cocaine would have brought to our shores.”
