Bulga: Alleged Nomads associate Luke Caban, 37, charged with importing commercial quantity of meth after shipment seized from Spain
A man with alleged organised crime links has been dramatically arrested by federal authorities on a property in a tiny Hunter town after 21kg of methamphetamine was seized arriving off a ship from Spain.
Newcastle
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An alleged associate of the Nomads bikie gang has been dramatically arrested allegedly attempting to take possession of portable power stations shipped from Spain and full of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of almost $20m.
Luke Caban, 37, was taken into custody in the tiny Hunter Valley town of Bulga last Thursday after Australian Federal Police officers swarmed a property moments after the consignment had arrived.
The AFP alleges Caban has “links to an organised crime group” and have charged him with both importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
Both charges attract a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The swoop occurred at Bulga last Thursday after planning the “controlled delivery” of the power stations began when Australian Border Force officers “observed an anomaly within a consignment which arrived via sea cargo” on January 15, the AFP said in a statement.
It continued as the cargo, shipped from Spain, was examined by ABF officers and detector dogs before 21kg of meth was allegedly found concealed within individually-wrapped packages.
“The AFP seized the methamphetamine, which has an estimated street value of about $19 million and could have been sold as about 210,000 individual street deals,” the statement said.
The drugs were removed before the delivery was sent on to Bulga where AFP allege Caban took possession of it.
The AFP further alleges that the raid allegedly uncovered “illicit substances and drug paraphernalia” although the exact amount has not been released.
They also allegedly seized electronic devices, including five mobile phones they say belonged to Caban.
Further raids almost 25km away at Hunterview, allegedly discovered a “commercial-grade grenade” which was safely taken away by the NSW police rescue and bomb disposal unit.
They also allegedly seized “a small quantity of border-controlled drug as well as further drug paraphernalia “, the AFP said.
Caban faced Singleton Local Court on Friday where he was not required to enter any pleas and was remanded in custody to appear in Newcastle Local Court on April 9.
The AFP said investigation into the “syndicate” were continuing.
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