‘Lust for publicity’: Glory-hogging AFP threatening our security

Bad blood between the AFP and state police is jeopardising Australia’s capacity to halt the lucrative drug trade and keep the country safe, writes Mark Morri.

Bad blood between the state police and AFP escalated last year when they felt they had been cut out of the biggest cocaine bust in the country’s history with the seizure of 2.4 tonnes of cocaine by Western Australian cops with the help of NSW.

Two US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers tipped WA off about the importation and had also given information to NSW cops two years earlier for Operation Jillabeban which led to the then biggest coke haul of 900kg.

“The AFP were fuming about the NSW operation because they missed out on a lot of publicity,’’ said a NSW police officer. “Then came the WA bust which pissed them off because they were never told and NSW knew about it,’’ he said.

The DEA often dealt directly with the states because they thought they were better at drug investigations and some may argue the proof is the fact that WA and NSW made two history-making busts while the feds now have a history-making loss.

Both agents who tipped off the state police were highly respected, but ended up being sent home after the AFP complained about them to the US authorities.

Mark Morri writes that “police around the country believe the AFP has a lust for publicity”. Picture: NSW Police Force

Soon after came the strangling of data from seizures by the Australian Border Force passed on to the AFP which controls its release.

Now comes the revelation of one of the biggest operational stuff-ups by any law enforcement agency in Australia, losing track of over $2billion in coke, which may have been preventable if they shared intel.

Police around the country believe the AFP has a lust for publicity, wanting to take as much glory for themselves which can lead to operational mistakes like this.

Since July, the AFP have set up the Commonwealth Agencies Operations centre to disseminate data about border seizures.

“It’s a start and we are getting a bit more information, but I don’t believe all of it and certainly not in real time,’’ one senior NSW cop said.

Some may say it’s to little too late.