Police rammed by truck on M7 highway during dramatic arrest of three men over 130kg cocaine import
Sydney’s cocaine supply is said to be running low after a dramatic armed arrest of three men in a truck on the M7 Motorway, who had allegedly collected a 130kg cocaine shipment from the UK, worth $40m on the streets. See the PolAir footage.
NSW
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Sydney’s cocaine supplies will be running low after Tuesday’s 130 kilogram seizure, according to police and underworld sources.
The confiscation of the massive shipment from the United Kingdom is just the latest instance of police winning the race toa major haul of cocaine before the street dealers can get a hand on it.
NSW Police Detective Superintendent Rob Critchlow, whose Organised Crime Squad has been responsible for a number of the state’sbiggest seizures, said “if we hadn’t acted now, many hundreds of kilograms of these drugs would have made our streets”.
“The UK authorities showed some brilliant investigation in this and identified that there may have been a number of trialshipments or what we call ‘dry runs’.
“And from that, they identified that this particular shipment was loaded with again, what we will allege is 130kg of cocaine.
“(That then) flows through to, as you know, the violence in the streets and the harm to people, including to innocent people in our community.”
Tuesday’s bust comes after police seized 54kg of cocaine — worth $20 million — in May following the death of a diver who was allegedly unloading the product at the Port of Newcastle.
Just months earlier another joint effort between Australian and UK authorities saw 2000kg of cocaine – at a street value of$208 million – confiscated.
That followed other big seizures, including one worth $154 million last May, which was also flown in from the UK.
Ex-NRL player Jamil Hopoate, the son of John Hopoate, pleaded guilty to commercial drug supply over his role in bringing in that shipment but is yet to be sentenced.
COPS SWARM TRUCK ON M7
Incredible video has been released of the moment police, with their firearms drawn, made the dramatic arrests of three men over their alleged involvement in importing $40 million worth of cocaine through Sydney Airport.
A tip-off from British authorities led NSW Police to pull over the trio of Daniel John Skaines, Aaron James Pearce and Corey Jones on the side of the M7 Motorway at Horsley Park about 5.45pm on Tuesday — at the height of peak hour.
Police allege just hours earlier Skaines, 32, Pearce, 29, and Jones, 29, had knowingly collected the whopping 130kg shipment from the airport and taken it to a property on Westbrook Rd at Cawdor, in Sydney’s south-west.
But as the three men left the farm they were followed by officers from the Organised Crime Squad and Tactical Operations Unit.
What followed were dramatic scenes, videoed from a PolAir aircraft flying overhead, that captured Skaines, 32, at one point allegedly trying to ram police vehicles with the Pantech truck he was driving.
Detective Superintendent Rob Critchlow praised the efforts of the NSW Police officers involved in the arrests of the three men, describing them as “brave”.
“It was very, very brave,” he said.
“When the time came to stop, as we will allege in court, the Pantech truck tried to ram their way through the police cordon, which is extremely risky to the police obviously, but also to members of the public.
“Luckily we have trained police who were able to do this safely, because it was a great risk to everyone involved.”
The Daily Telegraph can reveal the cocaine shipment left Heathrow Airport in London on Singapore Airlines flight SQ 305 at 9.25am on July 13, bound for Sydney.
Hidden in a sealed compartment in the base of an industrial generator, the drugs made their way through customs two days later at 7.15pm on July 15.
Police watched on as the shipment was collected at 10.17am on Tuesday, July 19 before it arrived back at the Cawdor farm at 5.45pm, still under surveillance of officers.
A PolAir aircraft captured footage police will allege shows the men moving some of the drugs between a shipping container at the farm and the truck.
Skaines, Pearce and Jones allegedly had access to machines and tools such as grinders, bobcats and forklifts to help them with first accessing, and then transporting, the large shipment.
It is also understood police will allege the trucks and vans used by the men were fitted with cloned licence plates, similar to those used by organised crime syndicates in many of the city’s recent gangland murders.
Det Supt Critchlow said the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had arrested three men in England and carried out multiple search warrants, before putting the syndicate on the radar of NSW Police.
“Information was supplied indicating that a crime syndicate from the United Kingdom was using concealed shipments to transport drugs into Australia,” he said.
“The Organised Crime Squad activated and ran an operation that resulted in the arrest of three men that we will allege were involved in the unloading of the consignment (of drugs).
“It’s interesting, the men weren’t that well known to us … they’re not a member of what we would allege is a major crime gang,” he said.
“We will allege in court that this group were probably the logistics end. They were making things happen, receiving the shipment (and) handling the concealment.
“They seem to have jobs. Some of the people we (often) talk about … their employment is being crooks, but these fellows seemed to be involved in various industries and have certain skills which were important for yesterday’s activities.
“But the originators in the United Kingdom appear to be connected to quite high level criminal syndicates.”
Skaines, Jones and Pearce all faced Local Courts across Sydney on Wednesday, with none applying for bail.
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