By Matthew Younan
An Aintree man is among two jailed for attempting to import almost $100 million worth of illicit drugs into Australia.
The 29-year-old Aintree man and a 39-year-old Melbourne man were sentenced in the Melbourne County Court last Friday, June 28, after pleading guilty over their failed attempts to import a total of 488 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia.
In two separate consignments sent from Thailand and Malaysia in 2020, the men attempted to import more than $97.7 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia, hiding it inside tins of coconut milk and four air compressors.
Following a six-month investigation into a series of air-freight deliveries from South-East Asia, Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers charged the men, together with a 36-year-old Aintree woman who were part of a Melbourne-based crime syndicate.
The Aintree man was charged with two counts of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug, two counts of trafficking in a drug of a dependence, namely cocaine, and failing to comply with an order.
The Melbourne man was charged with two counts of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug and dealing in proceeds of crime offence, money or property worth $10,000 or more.
The AFP executed a search warrant at a business in Ravenhall, and several warrants across Melbourne, where they located and arrested the two men on November 12, 2020. Police seized several electronic devices, bank cards and documents containing fraudulent identification.
During the search warrants, police seized multiple electronic devices, $682,000 in illicit cash, two clip-seal bags containing 90.7 grams of pure cocaine and two bottles containing 929g of 1,4-butanediol.
The woman was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in the Melbourne County Court in May for supporting a criminal organisation but was released on a $1000 good behaviour bond 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.
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.
She said she was grateful for the hard work the investigators did.
“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, fuelling more violence, crime and drug addiction,” Detective Superintendent Butcher said.
“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.
