Australian Federal Police blame Asian crime gangs for huge heroin hauls

Federal police have seized more than 160kg of heroin coming in on foreign boats in the past three months, as experts warn use of the drug is still common.

Federal police have seized more than 160kg of heroin destined for Australia in the past three months, smashing the total seized in the 12 months prior, with authorities warning Asian crime gangs are behind the attempted importations.

Heroin isn’t the headline grabber it was in the ’90s, but experts say it’s still in demand — and claiming hundreds of lives every year.

The AFP and its international partners have intercepted boats carrying 161kg of heroin destined for Australia in the past three months, in addition to seizing another 80kg on home soil.

The offshore seizure of 161kg in just 12 weeks is more than the 122kg of heroin intercepted in the entire 2023-24 financial year.

It’s also triple the amount seized in the 2022-23 financial year, when 56kg was stopped.

Heroin recently seized by the Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport. Picture: AFP.

The drug is most commonly imported by Asian crime gangs, according to AFP Crime Command Detective Superintendent Anthony Conway, with shipments originating in south East Asia’s “Golden Triangle”.

“Heroin is certainly a concern for us,” he said.

“Predominantly we see the drug coming in via airmail in smaller quantities.

“But we do get these larger imports via sea freight, and have seized significantly greater amounts of heroin in recent years.”

More than four tonnes of the drug – which equates to four years worth of Australia’s heroin supply – has been seized by the AFP since 2021, while a further 712 kgs has been caught in waters off the coast.

While the AFP has put a big dent in supply, recent wastewater analysis shows the country has steadily been using around 19kg of heroin every week

Heroin is not as prevalent as cocaine, ice or MDMA, but doctors at NSW’s only medically supervised injection centre say the drug has “reasserted itself”.

Uniting’s Medically Supervised Injecting Room staff Elaine Hogg and nursing unit manager Julie Latimer. Picture: Jane Dempster

Opposite Kings Cross station, Uniting’s Medically Supervised Injection Centre (MSIC) recorded almost 14,000 heroin injections last year, and more than 550,000 since it opened in 2001.

“Heroin was a big thing culturally in the ’90s and then it became rather passe,” the centre’s medical director Dr Robert Graham said.

“There was this talk of a heroin drought in 2000 and 2001, when the quality of heroin became fluctuant.

“But it’s always been easy to get heroin. I’ve never heard someone say they can’t get their hands on it.

“It’s never gone away and it’s certainly reasserted itself in recent years.”

Embattled former TV star Andrew O'Keefe recently overdosed on heroin. Picture: Gaye Gerard

The drug costs about $80 a dose, and is most commonly used in NSW’s and Victoria’s capital cities, with users ranging from their 40s to 70s.

In 2022, heroin was involved in 460 overdose deaths, according to the Pennington Institute, a huge spike compared with 2002, when 90 people died of heroin overdose.

Fallen TV star Andrew O’Keefe, 53, nearly died from a heroin overdose in Sydney last month, however, a medication known as Naloxone saved his life.

The Saturday Telegraph can reveal a friend administered the medication to him, which reversed the effects of the opioid overdose.

The national Take Home Naloxone Program was rolled out in 2022, and more than 7300 refills were supplied in the past 12 months.

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