Four men charged after $2 million worth of cocaine found in wooden ornaments from Peru
Four alleged Sydney drug-runners - one aged 70 - were arrested when police replaced $2 million worth of Peruvian cocaine with a dummy substance in wooden ornaments at Sydney Airport.
Four alleged Sydney drug-runners - one aged 70 - were arrested when police replaced $2 million worth of Peruvian cocaine with a dummy substance at Sydney Airport.
The 5.3kg load of cocaine arrived from Peru hidden in a package of wooden ornaments on December 3.
Australian Border Force officers x-rayed the package and called in the State Crime Command’s Drug and Firearms Squad, who switched the substance and sent the package on its way.
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Four men with an alleged interest in the shipments safe passage through customs - Alex Bittner, 58, Luis Diez, 70, Daniel Martinex, 52, and Daniel Martellotta, 44 - received the package but not the drugs.
On Tuesday, drug squad officers and local Blacktown police pounced on Bittner in the car park of Club Marconi, in Bossley Park, arresting him and allegedly seizing four grams of cocaine from his vehicle.
A raid on his Bossley Park home also revealed $115,000 cash police now allege was proceeds of crime.
Police then raided the homes of his co-accused at Wetherill Park, Bligh Park and Green Valley, revealing a brown substance police believe was for drug extraction, a firearm barrel, computers, phones and documents.
Each of the men were charged with multiple offences - Bittner with knowingly direct activities of a criminal group and all of them with commercial drug supply.
None of the men applied for bail in courts across Sydney and the Central Coast on Wednesday, as their cases were adjourned to March.
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