Australian Border Force monitoring bikies and their associates working in supply chain roles

The Australian Border Force is keeping a close watch on bikies employed as dock workers and airport baggage handlers who are suspected of being drug syndicate “insiders”.

Border Force investigators are monitoring dozens of bikies who they suspect are involved in ‘cross border crimes’. Picture: Ian Currie

Border force has identified 77 Victorians in the freight industry helping to get illegal drugs into Australia.

Among those under investigation are 16 Victorian bikies and their associates embedded in international supply chain sectors crucial to major drug syndicates.

The extent of OMCG reach in the sensitive areas like airports and the waterfront has emerged as Australian Border Force’s Operation Jardena moves to crack down on “trusted insiders” enabling narcotics shipments to enter the country.

Commander Bjorn Roberts said the Victorian OMCG and affiliate numbers – among a total of 50 in the supply chain nationwide – were the result of preliminary checks and that there would be more.

“The ABF is currently monitoring the activities of more than 77 Victorian based individuals and businesses that we suspect might be using their positions of trust to facilitate cross border crimes. Of those, 16 are OMCG members or associates,” he said.

Mr Roberts said the ABF was eyeing a number of Victorian freight depots for licence cancellation and some have already quit the industry after coming under scrutiny.

“There are a number no longer meeting their requirements,” Mr Roberts said.

Drugs are being brought into Australia through the help of bikies acting as ‘trusted insiders’. Picture: Tom Huntley

Dock workers, airport staff like baggage-handlers, freight-forwarders, licensed brokers and depot staff are among the key players being targeted by Jardena.

A freight industry insider is suspected of being a key element in colossal ice and cocaine shipments an organised crime plotted to bring to Melbourne before they were exposed by the sprawling Ironside operation of last year.

Jardena strike teams have been set up in Melbourne and other capitals as the ABF moves to double its presence in areas vulnerable to corruption in the import process.

Mr Roberts said the Australian Federal Police last year found hundreds of “criminal actors” were exploiting supply chains.

The favoured smuggling model, known as the “door”, uses legitimate employees to unload hidden drugs at one of the legs after arriving in Australia.

The “door” is now the preferred model for gangs with international reach, including bikies, Middle-Eastern organised crime syndicates and the mafia.

An Australian Border Force boat intercepting a drug shipment. Picture: AFP

It offers them far greater odds of success than the traditional method of loading contraband in a container and hoping it arrives without being found.

Improved detection technology has made the risk of drugs being uncovered higher than ever.

It has become even more important in the past two years because Covid restrictions have cut opportunities to have airline staff smuggle drugs from overseas.

Ironside, which last year resulted in a wave of organised crime arrests here and overseas, provided an insight into the use of the “door”.

It led to the arrests of 29 “trusted insiders” linked to the various elements of international supply chains.

Most of the cross-border offending identified in Ironside exploited the “door” and was connected to members of the Comanchero bikie gang.

In December last year, 14 Auckland Airport baggage handlers, gang members and their associates were arrested over the importation of 250kg of methamphetamine.

Air New Zealand workers and members of the King Cobra gang are accused of being involved in importing the drug from Malaysia, the United States and Tonga.

“You’d be naive to think that it’s not happening here,” Mr Roberts said.

“It’s an area we’ll be focusing on.”

Mr Roberts said in one recent case, a large consignment of cocaine was found on a vessel docked in Tasmania.

He said the presence of ABF officers in the areas while the container was en route in Sydney probably stopped an insider from removing the cache there.

Acting Supt Jack McGrath said those who use their job to wave through drug consignments can command up to one-quarter of the profits.

“You’re talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars or millions of dollars,” Mr McGrath said.

“They’ve really got no place in the supply chain. It undermines the whole system.”

Some of those used by the gangs are long-term supply chain employees who have relatives or friends from the organised crime sphere.

Insp. Linda Cheek said some were specifically planted as part of a “long game” approach.

Law enforcement bodies have recorded other instances of people being pressed into service using blackmail tactics.

There are many cases of the process being corrupted long before a shipment heads to Australia.

Crime gangs use a “rip-on rip-off” model where crooked employees in foreign ports wait until they know a container has been cleared by inspection then plant the contraband.

There have been instances of workers on cargo ships throwing overboard drug parcels fitted with GPS tracking gear near the Australian coast so they can be picked up later by criminals in smaller vessels.

The ABF recently made a huge bust in South Australia in which 400kg of cocaine was found strewn along the west coast after being tossed from a cargo ship.