Border Force staff accused of helping smugglers gain inside information
AN Australian Border Force supervisor is accused of working alongside an alleged Sydney criminal syndicate, revealing the inner workings of customs to help them smuggle millions of dollars’ worth of drugs and tobacco.
NSW
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AN Australian Border Force supervisor is accused of working alongside an alleged Sydney criminal syndicate, revealing the inner workings of customs to help them smuggle millions of dollars’ worth of drugs and tobacco into the country undetected.
In a major security breach, police allege supervisor Craig Eakin was bribed by the Jomaa family to downgrade customs alerts so illegal cargo would not be X-rayed by Border Force officials.
He allegedly also passed on highly sensitive intelligence about suspicious container and plane cargo, which groups law enforcement were targeting and even took screenshots of Border Force computer screens that he then handed over at a Brighton Le Sands cafe.
The three Jomaa brothers — Koder, Ali and Abbas — Eakin and former Border Force employee turned NSW police officer Johayna Mehri were arrested during sweeping organised raids across Sydney and Dubai as part of Operation Astatine in August.
At the same time a second alleged crime syndicate was smashed as part of operation Veyda — netting members of infamous the Ibrahim family.
The Jomaa brothers have been on the police radar for a decade and it is alleged they imported three illegal shipments of tobacco and were planning to import 200kg of the drug MDMA, which never made it to our shores.
But today The Daily Telegraph can reveal the alarming security flaws at Customs House and the lengths both Eakin and Mehri went to after being allegedly bribed by the Jomaas.
MORE: BROTHERS LINKED TO CUSTOMS CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS
According to a police statement of facts previously tendered in court, Eakin received $100,000 in cash from Mehri to look up sensitive intelligence when he was the supervisor of Customs House’s Cargo Targeting and Assessment section.
Ali Jomaa, who was refused bail after an application yesterday, allegedly used an encrypted BlackBerry phone using the handle “Bowzer” to communicate with a police witness about specific advice Eakin had given him on how to avoid detection and “about legitimate Australian company imports”.
“I think we gotta bring in a legitimate shipment first before we load it with tobacco. We can import paper rolls? Which would be really cheap,” police allege Ali texted the witness on March 14.
On March 21 police will allege Eakin accessed a highly sensitive computer profile used by officials to detect high risk cargo imports.
A few days later Ali Jomaa allegedly met the police witness at Mezes Espresso Cafe in Brighton Le Sands, arriving with a printed document that included screen shots of the sensitive computer profile.
After bail was refused yesterday lawyer Abbas Soukie said the drug allegations against Ali Jomaa were weak and the charges would be defended. Police also allege Eakin accessed Border Force systems to allow a container of 455,000 packets of smuggled cigarettes to pass through customs at Port Botany undetected.
Police allege Ali’s brother Koder Jomaa was the kingpin of the syndicate and key to organising a shipment of 200kg of MDMA from Europe to Australia.
Police raided Eakin’s home on July 20 and found $99,000 Mehri had allegedly given him on behalf of the Jomaa brothers. When police searched Mehri’s Hurstville home on August 8 they found $50,000 in cash.
On the same day Koder Jomaa was arrested in Dubai and Ali and Abbas Jomaa were arrested in Rockdale.
The case will return to court next year.