Man jailed after trying to import huge haul of drugs hidden in logs to Sunshine destination

A drug trafficker has been jailed for at least 25 years after he was busted trying to import 125kg of methamphetamine packed inside logs from Nigeria, with details revealed of the complex Federal Police operation to smash the ring.

The huge shipment of meth was hidden in logs. Picture: Australian Border Force and Australian Federal Police

A drug trafficker who tried to import more than 125kg of pure meth into Melbourne will not get out of jail until at least 2043.

Wedi Bembo played a “central role” in a conspiracy to import meth hidden in timber logs from Nigeria to Australia.

The $125 million consignment was intercepted by Australian Federal Police in June, 2016.

AFP officers substituted the meth with a different substance and allowed the consignment to be delivered to its Sunshine destination.

The logs, to be received by Evergreen Import & Export Pty Ltd, were originally bound for a location in NSW but were redirected by Bembo and his “right-hand man”, Joe Jackson, to a Central Ave site.

The logs were then moved to Anderson St, Sunshine.

The joint investigation with Australian Border Force included tracking phone, SMS and email intercepts.

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Bembo was linked to the operation after he was recorded travelling to and from the site with Jackson.

Property documents, mobile phone records and fingerprints found on a notebook in a Carlton flat linked to the operation were all used to build the case against Bembo.

The conspiracy ran for several months until Bembo was arrested in July, 2016.

Bembo was on bail for other major drug charges at the time of his arrest.

Meth was imported to Australia hidden in logs shipped from Nigeria. Picture: courtesy of Australian Border Force

He was busted in 2013 trying to import heroin hidden in furniture from Pakistan and also conspired to ship in a large amount of meth from China in 2014.

His Australian co-offenders in the China job, Ibrahim Jalloh and Bengali Sherrif, face execution in that country.

Bembo, 39, was sentenced in the County Court on August 23 after being found guilty of attempting to possess a large commercial quantity of meth.

The jury heard during the six-week trial that Bembo had brought in a smaller amount of meth via similar methods prior to the Sunshine bust as a “trial run”.

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Bembo faced life imprisonment or a fine of more than $1 million but Judge Susan Cohen warned his sentence would “not include a fine”.

“You engaged in this operation for monetary gain,” she said.

Bembo was sentenced to a maximum 19 years in prison.

However, the sentence will not begin until Bembo completes much of his federal sentence for his prior drug charges.

His non-parole period was extended from 16 to 25 years.

AFP Commander John Beveridge, at the time of the bust, said federal police and its partners would continue to target organised criminal syndicates who attempted to “peddle illicit drugs in Australia”.

“This operation successfully blocked more than a million ‘hits’ of methamphetamine before they could reach our streets,” Commander Beveridge said.

Jackson pleaded guilty to the same offence and was sentenced in the County Court on December 13 to 14 years in prison with a non-parole period of nine years.

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