How a $5 note brought down a cocaine drug smuggling syndicate
It was a secret rendezvous to negotiate the shipment of 500kg of cocaine into Sydney. But it all got unstuck thanks to a $5 note. The Sunday Telegraph’s court reporter Brenden Hill explains.
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A $300 million cocaine-smuggling deal was brought undone by a $5 note.
The $5 note was a “token” and when its serial number was shown at a secret meeting underneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge, it was supposed to trigger a plan to smuggle 500kg of cocaine into Australia.
But the problem for the alleged smugglers was the $5 note was in the hands of an undercover cop.
It was the result of months of planning at secret meetings via encrypted messages and the detail of all this was recently revealed in documents tendered to the Downing Centre District Court.
The Australian buyers of the drug shipment were to bring a bag containing $80,000 cash to the rendezvous at Bradfield Park in Milsons Point on August 30, 2018.
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The man who turned up to the meeting with the $80,000 cash was Zhen Zhao of Bonnyrigg, the documents said.
The other man at the meeting, known as Jamal, would flash a $5 note.
Once its serial number matched the one they were expecting, the $80,000 would be handed to Jamal, who had promised to a boat to retrieve the cocaine shipment from the ocean off the Australian coast.
Ruining the plan for Zhao and his syndicate was that Jamal was an undercover police officer.
Zhao was arrested on September 27, 2018, and charged with dealing with money that was the instrument of crime.
Last December, he avoided jail after being sentenced to a two-year intensive corrections order
Zhao’s sentencing hearing was told he was a low level player whose criminality was diminished because it could not be proven he knew how much money was in the bag or what the money was for.
But it may be a different story for his co-offender, Wahroonga man Zhen Tao Qi.
Qi has pleaded guilty to importing the massive cocaine shipment and is behind bars awaiting sentencing.
According to documents tendered in Zhao’s sentencing, the undercover investigation began when Australian Federal Police discovered a plot to import cocaine to Sydney from Columbia.
After sailing from Colombia, the drugs were to be dumped in the water near Australia. GPS beacons were to be attached to the shipment so it could be tracked and retrieved by a local boat.
In July 2018, Qi attended a meeting with the undercover officer, Jamal, plus two other men to discuss the importation.
Jamal would get $80,000 to provide a boat — plus a separate payment following the successful importation of the 500kg shipment.
The documents said Jamal told Qi that he would provide Qi with a “token”, in reference to the serial number on the $5 note, to facilitate the exchange of the $80,000 at the meeting under the Harbour Bridge.
The trap was further set when Jamal gave Qi an “EncroChat” mobile device that would allow them to communicate by sending encrypted messages.
But, in reality, it was confining Qi to one communication method that was being monitored by police.
Those messages saw Qi and Jamal discuss a plan that appeared to show a boat going to Papua New Guinea where GPS beacons would be collected, the documents said.
The point at sea where the drugs would be collected by the local boat was also co-ordinated after the beacons were collected.
Zhao was not involved in the communications, the court heard.
On the day of the meeting under the Harbour Bridge, Qi and Zhao were spotted together about 45 minutes before the rendezvous.
During the meeting, a second undercover cop met with Zhao and introduced himself as “James” before producing the $5 note as the “token”, the documents said.
Zhao told the undercover to take a bag from under the front seat of his car.
A short time later, Zhao met up with Qi who sent Jamal a message that read: “Drop’s done”.
Jamal responded: “Got it. Thanks.”
On 13 September, 2018, the boat holding the cocaine departed from Colombia and later arrived at Honiara in the Solomon Islands.
Qi and Zhao were arrested on September 28.
About the same time, Royal Solomon Islands Police Force seized the boat and found
500 1kg blocks hidden inside the hold of the double-masted yacht known as Vieux Malin, which was registered in Belgium.
Qi is scheduled to appear in the Downing Centre District Court on May 22.
Originally published as How a $5 note brought down a cocaine drug smuggling syndicate
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