Wilson Wong and cocaine addict NAB analyst Christopher Andraos plead guilty to trafficking heroin

A coke addict NAB analyst and his RMIT buddy enjoyed a high-end cocaine and heroin racket until the cops had the last laugh.

Wilson Wong (left) Christopher 'Chris' Andraos pleaded guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of heroin, meth and cocaine. Facebook.

A former RMIT engineering grad and his uni mate had their high-end international drug syndicate smashed by covert cops.

Wilson Wong, 34, was sentenced in the County Court on Thursday to a minimum five-year jail term after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of heroin, meth and cocaine.

Wong and pal Christopher ‘Chris’ Andraos were “complicit” in running their Melbourne-based drug syndicate.

Wong, who also pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a marketable quantity of heroin, worked the gang’s local operations.

Andraos, a former NAB analyst, and others in the syndicate travelled to Vietnam where they sourced drugs before mailing the illicit gear back to Melbourne.

The key players travelled with suitcases stuffed with packaging material used to package and conceal the drugs overseas.

The syndicate used various mailboxes, shared office spaces, burner phones, fake identities and multiple Melbourne “safe houses” to mask its clandestine operation.

The crew used apartments at Essendon North and Footscray to store cash and prepare drugs and 15 other mailboxes and offices to receive drug consignments.

All locations and boxes were leased with a fake identity.

Federal authorities latched onto the syndicate after intercepting a package containing counterfeit Medicare cards and driver’s licences in September 2018.

The matter was later referred to the Victoria Police Drug Taskforce which launched ‘Operation TIMUR’.

Investigators kept watch while Wong, Andraos and other members lobbed at safe houses and caught international flights from Melbourne Airport.

Wong graduated from RMIT.

Police were hot on Andraos’ tail while he and an accomplice prepared to board a flight to Brussels via Thailand in July 2019.

Authorities examined the pair’s suitcases which contained two flat packed cardboard boxes, a heat sealing machine, disposable gloves, nine tubes of glue, scalpels, packaging material suitable for heat sealing and three mobile phones.

Police also intercepted multiple packages which contained heroin and another which contained more than a kilo of cocaine.

Taskforce detectives served covert search warrants at the Footscray and Essendon North safe houses where police photographed evidence and installed spy cameras and listening devices.

Police also installed devices in syndicate members’ cars.

The Footscray safe house, which was bugged on August 12 2019, contained a large cash counting machine, drug paraphernalia and packaging and “white crystal residue”.

The Essendon North safe house, which was bugged on September 5 2019, contained a safe with 16 lockers each locked with a unique code.

The safe contained a cocaine cutting agent, 700 grams of heroin, false IDs and various mailbox keys.

Cops watched Wong come-and-go various times from the Footscray safe house where he mixed drugs, conducted deals and counted cash.

Wong also had a phone conversation with a drug runner and made a $10,000 meth deal while under surveillance.

Andraos was seen driving a black Mercedes to-and-from the Essendon North safe house.

Andraos and syndicate member Allan Pham were also captured on camera at the Essendon North safe house preparing drugs.

The pair were also recorded talking about drug prices and the possibility of getting cheaper drugs from Cambodia.

Andraos and Pham checked into a Vietnam bound flight on September 9, 2019.

Pham was arrested in Vietnam on suspicion of trafficking narcotics on September 12, the court was told.

The court heard Pham was detained in Vietnam but Andraos hightailed it on the first available flight back to Australia.

Wong and Andraos cleaned and mopped the Essendon North safe house and removed the safe on September 14.

“Leave this joint,” Andraos said to Wong.

”Never come back.”

Andraos was jailed on December 1.

The pair shifted the safe to Footscray where they prepared drugs cleared from the Essendon North apartment.

Andraos and Wong also discussed the possibility of Pham receiving a “life sentence” in Vietnam.

“We can’t keep going there,” Andraos said.

“I’m never ever going back there,” Wong replied.

“I’m thinking Canada or something,” Andraos said.

“I would never go back again … do you reckon there’ll be cops waiting?”

“F**k yeah,” Wong replied.

“You need to have other c**ts do it.”

Andraos and Wong were later recorded talking about using new addresses and identities to run their business.

Drug Taskforce members raided the safe houses and properties at West Melbourne and Ascot Vale and arrested Wong and Andraos on September 18, 2019.

Investigators seized 365 grams of cocaine, 249 grams of meth, MDMA, $64,855, an industrial size cash counter, scales, the safe, mobile phones, Xanax, passports, a laptop and various fake identities linked to Wong.

Andraos was personally nabbed with $24,190, four mobile phones, two Apple MacBook Pro computers, a passport, a Vietnam Airline ticket and a Hublot watch.

The court heard Wong graduated in engineering at RMIT but was unable to secure full-time work while his gambling and drug addictions escalated.

Andraos, a one-time rising star RMIT masters student who climbed the ladder to become a NAB investment compliance analyst, also fell hard and quit his job due to a raging cocaine addiction.

Andraos gambled then took out loans to cover his drug debts but in the end went into business to bankroll his addiction.

Andraos, 33, was sentenced on December 1 to a nine-year and nine-month jail term with a minimum of six years after pleading guilty to trafficking a commercial quantity of heroin, meth and cocaine and attempting to possess a marketable quantity of heroin.

“This is a tragic case of a young man (Wong) with a promising career, life and future that was crippled by drug addiction which led into this deep dive of serious criminality,” Judge Duncan Allen said today.

Wong, who sobbed throughout an earlier hearing, was jailed for a maximum eight years and nine months.

[e-mail]