Eight arrests as alleged SA-WA meth smuggling syndicate dismantled in Operation Ironside sting

A drug syndicate identified as part of Operation Ironside was allegedly running millions of dollars in drugs from Adelaide to Perth – all while being watched by police.

Members of an alleged drug syndicate are accused of trafficking millions of dollars of ice from Adelaide to Perth via a South Australian freight company as police secretly watched, it can be revealed.

Codenamed Operation Alicanto, Australian Federal Police arrested eight men and charged them with shipping 10kg of methamphetamine worth an estimated $4m.

The men were identified as part of Operation Ironside as messages sent by phones allegedly linked to the accused showed in real time the drugs being seized in Perth.

Even though the majority of arrests were made in May and June last year, a raft of new charges from the operation continue to be laid.

Australian Federal Police arrest a man in Perth as part of Operation Alicanto. Picture: AFP.

On Friday, one of the men, whose name has now been suppressed to protect future trials, had a further nine counts of trafficking in large quantities of cannabis laid against him.

The elaborate operation came to an end on May 17, 2021, when a wooden crate was delivered among other cargo to a warehouse in Kewdale, Perth.

It is alleged that Remo Gerace, 51, arrived at the warehouse and picked up the crate, which held two cardboard boxes each containing 5kg of methamphetamine.

Detectives watched as Mr Gerace drove a Toyota HiLux ute to a property at Noranda, 12km northeast of Perth, where they allege one of the boxes was removed by the two residents of the house.

Kilograms of methamphetamine being analysed at a Perth address. Picture: AFP

Forty plastic bags of cannabis seized at the home of a South Australina man in June 2021. Picture: AFP

Mr Gerace drove away and police swooped on the property, seizing what is alleged to be 5kg of methamphetamine and arresting Daniel Le, 33, and Robert Mai Nguyen, 35.

Police continued following Mr Gerace to an address in suburban Ashfield where he is alleged to have met Salvatore Pizzata, 45.

Mr Pizzata is accused of unloading the box and leaving it in the rubbish bin of a neighbouring property.

Mr Gerace and Mr Pizzata were arrested at the house and police seized 5kg of methamphetamine from the bin. Back in Adelaide, police allege four men responsible for sending the drugs were communicating with each other on the encrypted AN0M app.

Australian Federal Police arrest a man in Perth as part of Operation Alicanto. Picture: AFP

Messages sent on the AN0M platform revealed that the men were alarmed by the arrest of Mr Pizzata.

Police claim messages from a fifth Perth man – who was alleged to have been intending to pick up the drugs from the bin – saw police on the street and kept driving.

On Ironside “resolution day” on June 7 last year, three Adelaide men aged 46, 52 and 50 were arrested and charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. They are in custody after being refused bail. On January 6, Mohammed Hoblos, 38, became the eighth person arrested over delivery.

Australian Federal Police arrest a man in Perth as part of Operation Alicanto. Picture: AFP.

Methamphetamine seized as part of Operation Alicanto in Perth. Police allege the millions of dollars of drugs was sent from Adelaide via a South Australian freight company.

He is alleged to have supplied 5kg of the drugs for the shipment before it was transported to Perth.

The Perth men will appear in court next week while the Adelaide men will appear in court in April.

Operation Ironside was the AFP’s biggest crime operation in 40 years and led to the arrest of 340 people Australia-wide.

In SA, 113 alleged offenders have been charged with 300 offences and more than 2.2 tonnes of drugs have been seized, along with 16 weapons.