How drug lord accused Xu Lin skipped bail with an ankle monitor

For more than three years alleged drug lord Xu Lin has remained at large - here’s how he slipped the net despite having an ankle monitor strapped to his leg.

Years before alleged drug importer Mostafa Baluch cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared, an accused drug lord had pulled off the exact same plan - but unlike Baluch he was never caught.

Now with NSW’s bail laws coming under increased scrutiny police are eager to hold up the case of Canterbury’s Xu Lin to convince courts not to bail suspects on ankle monitors.

Lin was last seen walking out of Campsie Police Station on a May afternoon in 2018.

The 27-year-old had just reported for bail and had spent the last two years with authorities watching his every movement..

Lin had been charged as part of a syndicate that was allegedly trying to import methamphetamine precursor chemicals into Australia concealed in bar stools and soup packets in early 2016.

Hundreds of kilograms of the deadly drug were off the street and the Australian Federal Police made headlines for the arrests.

“The AFP’s long term strategy to combat methamphetamine in Australia is to target and focus on the international syndicates seeking to profit from the misery they inflict on the Australian community,” AFP Commander Michael Sheehan said following Lin’s arrest.

Lin spent almost a year in prison after his charges were upgraded.

Accused drug importer Xu Lin vanished in 2018 after being released on bail, despite wearing an electronic ankle monitor.

In 2017 he asked for bail and promised to wear an electronic ankle monitor but the AFP warned the court he was a flight risk.

The AFP also does not have the resources to monitor people released on monitors, they told the court.

“As the AFP does not have a wide spread physical presence in NSW it cannot guarantee a prompt response to suspected contraventions of bail conditions even when notified,” Commander Sheehan wrote to the court in 2017.

“This increases the risk that Mr Lin would have the chance to leave the jurisdiction before the AFP could respond to an apparent violation.”

But Justice Robert Beech-Jones said Commander Sheehan’s words did not carry any weight.

The bail laws could not be applied differently because the AFP was structured differently to NSW Police, he concluded.

“The task of monitoring Mr Lin’s compliance with his bail conditions will be made easier for the AFP by electronic monitoring, rather than more difficult,” the Judge said.

The Judge noted, however, that the electronic monitoring system was not foolproof and did not eliminate the risk Lin would escape.

Drugs allegedly siezed by the AFP include those inside soup packets as part of Lin's arrest

And escape is exactly what Lin did.

The accused drug importer was wearing the device when he exited the police station and went back to his grey, boxlike unit on Canterbury Road.

Four days later the signal went dead. It took another five days before officers found his front door unlocked and the alleged criminal gone.

The reason it took nine days to knock on Lin’s door was only revealed in September this year in an unrelated case.

An accused ISIS supporter was applying for bail with an ankle monitor against the AFP’s wishes.

The police reminded the court of Lin’s disappearance and claimed the monitoring company had failed to keep tabs on the accused man.

Court documents, provided as part of the AFP’s case, reveal Lin’s ankle monitor stayed in his home beeping out its signal for four or five days before it went dead.

Accused drug importer Xu Lin allegedly smuggled drugs inside stools bound for Sydney.

The monitoring company said they emailed the AFP three days after Lin was last seen saying they’d lost connection - but the AFP said they never received the email.

Two days later another alert was sent to the AFP and another three days passed before a third alert was sent to the police.

Nine days after Lin was last seen, police knocked on his door but by then it was too late.

Since Lin’s escape the AFP still have not been given the capacity to monitor people bailed on ankle monitors, they told the court in September.

The alleged ISIS supporter was bailed but the judge concluded the ankle monitor would not provide much additional security. He has not breached his release.

But just weeks later accused cocaine kingpin Baluch allegedly cut off his ankle monitor and fled his Sydney home.

Baluch was recaptured trying to enter Queensland in the back of a car inside a shipping container, police claim, and the case is back before the courts.

Unlike Baluch, court records indicate Lin’s prosecution stopped once he made his escape. He has not been recaptured.

Lin remains at large, the AFP confirmed this week.