A joint operation comprising of the NSW Police Force, Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Customs and Border Protection Services (ACBPS), NSW Crime Commision (NSWCC) and the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) has resulted in the arrest of a 29 year old United States national.
The operation began on August 31st when the US National arrived into Sydney. The gentleman was identified by the ACBPS. On the 12 October, officers intercepted a consignment that arrived into Sydney from Hong Kong.
The shipment contained a number of stainless steel items, along with two manual dough rollers. ACBPS officers conducted an x-ray of the dough rollers.The results from the examination of the two cylinders (from the rollers) on both machines were abnormal. The officers conducted a further inspection of this piece of the machine, only to discover a white powder inside. This powder presumptively tested positive for cocaine.
The consignment was then passed onto the Australian Federal Police (AFP). The AFP measured approx 17.5kgs of cocaine from the seizure.
The cocaine was then replaced with an inert substance, and a controlled delivery was staged. On the 22nd October, the 29 year-old man took delivery of the shipment and removed the dough rollers. He was then promptly arrested by the AFP.
The man was charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely cocaine, contrary to section 307.1 of the
Criminal Code Act 1995 and one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug, namely cocaine, contrary to Section 307.5 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 by virtue of section 11.1.
ACBPS Regional Commander NSW, Tim Fitzgerald, said the detection and arrest shows the importance of shared intelligence by law enforcement agencies.
“Research undertaken by the National Border Targeting Centre was crucial to identifying this consignment and the ultimate arrest of the offender,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
Source: customs.gov.au
