Mark Standen: The sharp fall of the state’s top drug cop
THE PRISON bars were yesterday slammed shut behind the last of the men involved in a massive worldwide ecstasy ring that started with the downfall of one of Australia’s top drug cops.
NSW
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THE PRISON bars were yesterday slammed shut behind the last of the men involved in a massive worldwide ecstasy ring that started with the downfall of one of Australia’s top drug cops.
Mark Standen was an assistant director of the shadowy NSW Crime Commission who had previously worked for the AFP, the agency who would eventually orchestrate his steep fall from top cop to crim.
Having worked across a number of different agencies throughout his chequered career - including the Federal Narcotics Bureau, the National Crime Authority and the AFP - Standen had a deep history of investigating serious drug crimes in Australia. He had access to some of the highest level intelligence available and used it as part of his conspiracy to import 300kg of pseudoephedrine into the country.
Standen was eventually handed a 22 year sentence for his part in the Haklander cartel’s global operations and remains one of the most significant breaches in law enforcement security in Australia’s history.
And while many of his colleagues were shocked when Standen was marched from the Crime Commission’s headquarters in 2008, it wasn’t as if he had avoided controversy during his law enforcement career.
If not for ‘indecision’ by the Department of Administrative Services he might never have been in such a powerful position to exploit.
During the 1982 Stewart Royal Commission into Drug Trafficking, Standen openly admitted he and two other agents had flushed hash down the toilet, destroyed a suspect’s confession and falsified entries in the agency’s logbooks after a botched raid in Bondi.
It was also revealed during the Royal Commission that recommendations were made after an internal investigation into the Bondi incident, that saw Standen face charges, should not be allowed to join the AFP, which was created in 1979 and due to merge with the Narcotics Bureau. But due to administrative indecision, the charges were dropped and Standen went on to join the national police force.
After taking a voluntary redundancy from the AFP in 1995, Standen joined the NSW Crime Commission, the agency charged with investigating and curtailing organised and serious crime in the state.
Standen’s ethics were again called into question in 2006 while leading the investigation into a drug syndicate and their links to Qantas baggage handlers.
It emerged that investigators had released 7kg of cocaine onto the streets as part of the operation, but only a single kilogram was ever recovered.
During criminal proceedings, Standen reportedly justified his decision to put the coke on the street as it wouldn’t harm anyone, The Australian reported.
Standen was known as a problem gambler and this is what motivated him to become involved in the plot to import drugs, Justice Bruce James said when handing down his sentence.
He was promised $1 million for his part in the syndicate, a role that involved providing detailed intelligence on drug investigations and manipulating contacts within Customs to ensure safe passage of the drugs.
Police became aware of the former top cop’s involvement in the syndicate more than two years before his eventual arrest.
Investigators, including colleagues at the Crime Commission, watched him around the clock before finally bringing him down.
Originally published as Mark Standen: The sharp fall of the state’s top drug cop
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