Sydney man faces life behind bars after bid to smuggle 16kg of cocaine in sausage maker went awry
EXTRAORDINARY text messages which brought down a mysterious dealer known as “Dr Octopuss88” and his involvement in a major Australian drug syndicate have been revealed.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
THE extraordinary text messages which brought down a mysterious dealer known as “Dr Octopuss88” and his involvement in a major Australian drug syndicate can now be revealed.
Potts Point man Roberto Zalapa, 33, faces life behind bars after he was caught trying to import 16kg of cocaine hidden inside a box pretending to carry a sausage maker from the US into Australia.
He was also nabbed separately putting a bag filled with $40,000 into a white car at Bondi Junction shopping centre carpark meant to be used as payment to a syndicate member.
New details have emerged about the incredible police sting which led to Zalapa’s arrest in September 2016 and his role in the criminal group.
Police had earlier pulled Rio Tinto executive Bennet Schwartz off a plane and arrested him for smuggling parcels filled with cocaine worth millions of dollars. He has since been sentenced to a maximum of eight years jail.
After his arrest, Australian Federal Police took control of his Phantom Secure encrypted Blackberry phone and assumed his identity which had the profile name “SwimmingRace”.
A day later they received their first messages from Zalapa under the moniker of Dr Octopuss88.
“Sorry for late mail…. All packed and ready to go for next week now,” they read.
AFP then began texting with him about a cash drop arranging a rendezvous at the Eastgate Shopping Centre where Zalapa dropped $40,000 cash in the back of an unmarked police car he thought belonged to Schwartz.
Police didn’t arrest Zalapa and continued with the sting.
During their communication Zalapa writes to them: “Pack as a sausage maker… not juice press… that sweet?”
“No problem,” they respond.
On a later date police write to Zalapa: “Package is clear, just need to sort delivery for today. Standby.”
Unbeknown to him police intercepted the cardboard box pretending to contain a “food sausage stuffer” and replaced 16 blocks of cocaine inside – worth $3.8 million on the streets – with an inert substance.
They then continued with a controlled delivery to an address in Newcastle, arresting the man who was paid to wait outside and collect it.
Zalapa continued to text police after the arrest realising something had gone wrong.
“We have a massive problem. Guy waiting at address was picked up by police… Something f**kn pear shaped is going on.”
He then writes that the best-case scenario is that someone called the cops on a random guy sitting in his car all day.
“Worst case cops delivered the parcel he got out to sign and cops got him.”
Police arrested Zalapa in Potts Point after he threw his phone and SIM card in a bin, court documents said.
He will be sentenced next month for a number of charges including importing a commercial quantity of cocaine into Australia.
On Thursday his mother Associate Professor Leanne Zalapa - the founding CEO of the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation – told the court that her son had been diagnosed with ADHD and reading problems when he was a child.
He had also suffered from anxiety, she said.
His uncle told the court of how the 33-year-old had struggled after his father died.
“He did a silly thing and I think he regrets what he has done,” he said.