How baggage handler smuggled 35kg of meth into Sydney Airport
In the smuggling business it’s called the “rip on, rip off” method but for one airport baggage handler it all came unstuck when the Australian Federal Police learnt about his plans. INTERACTIVE: HOW THE DRUGS WERE SMUGGLED IN
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It is the preferred strategy from the corrupt baggage handlers’ play book to smuggle drugs into Australia via international flights.
For the uninitiated, it’s referred to as the “rip on, rip off’ method.
The first step is for the baggage handler to remove a luggage containing drugs from an international flight while it is still on the runway.
Once stowed in the footwell of a luggage buggy, the bag is driven to the domestic terminal and put on a baggage carousel where a pre-organised runner picks up the bag and casually escapes with the drugs to a waiting getaway car.
The end result is that the bag with the drugs avoids the process of being screened and X-rayed once it comes off the international flight.
But the strategy does not always work and the consequences are severe.
This point was made clear to baggage handler Uinisitoni Tolutau on June 19 when the Campsie man was jailed for a maximum nine years in the Downing Centre District Court after pleading guilty to importing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine.
The court heard Tolutau, 33, tried out the tactic with two backpacks containing 35kg of methamphetamine, worth $10.5 million on the street, when they landed at Sydney Airport on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver on March 6, 2019.
He then drove the bags to the domestic terminal and dropped the red and green backpacks on a Jetstar carousel, court documents said.
Inside the domestic terminal, Victorian man Paul Silao, 27, was waiting to pick the bags up off the carousel.
The only problem for the drug smuggler was that the Australian Federal Police were watching the men as part of an investigation that was known as Operation Verdi.
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Silao pleaded guilty to possessing a commercial quantity of a border control drug and was sentenced in the Downing Centre District Court to a maximum six years and nine months in jail in February.
The first challenge for the smuggling operation had been to make sure Tolutau, Silao and the drugs were all at Sydney Airport at the same time.
The drugs were meant to land in Sydney days earlier but were delayed on multiple occasions, court documents said.
Tolutau repeatedly had made sure he was rostered on to work shifts when the plan was scheduled to unfold. This included 3am shifts on March 4.
Meanwhile, Silao had to repeatedly cancel flights from Victoria before rebooking them.
On March 4, Silao sent a text message to a person, named in court documents as “his friend”, which said: “Had to change my flight again … to Wednesday.”
Tolutau did not turn up to his shift on March 5.
But that evening, he arranged to “cover a shift” starting at 3am on March 6, when the drugs would land in Sydney.
At 10.54am, AFP officers watched on as Tolutau drove a “tow tug” truck next to the Air Canada flight. He was filmed taking the bags off the belt loader after they came off the plane before putting them in the footwell of the truck.
Tolutau was working for DNATA, a company contracted by Sydney Airport to move cargo and luggage from international flights to the Customs clearance area for processing, court documents said.
DNATA’s contract did not include taking bags from the international terminal to the domestic terminal. However, this is where Tolutau took a detour with the two bags.
Meanwhile, Silao had landed in Sydney on a Virgin flight from Melbourne at 9am and brought no baggage.
At 9.01am, he received a text that said: “Do u have ur coins ready for the trolley.”
Two hours later, Silao was captured on CCTV waiting at Jetstar carousel six.
At 11.15am Tolutau drove the truck to the restricted area of the domestic terminal and loaded the two bags on the Jetstar carousel for Silao to collect.
Police captured crystal clear footage of him loading the bags.
They had similar footage of Silao picking up the bags on the other side when they came through.
AFP officers waited for Silao to put the bags containing the drugs on a trolley before arresting him.
Later analysis of the methamphetamine showed it was 80 per cent pure.
The head of the case, Ryan Henderson from the AFP’s Eastern Command Criminal Investigations, said the investigation began with police piecing together strands of intelligence.
“We targeted the Air Canada flight based on information developed by AFP intelligence analysts here in Sydney,” he said.
“The intelligence indicated that an organised crime group might try to import a large quantity of illicit drugs on this aircraft. We began an investigation, targeting this suspected importation which eventually resulted in the arrest of these two men.
Originally published as How baggage handler smuggled 35kg of meth into Sydney Airport
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