Explosion in shipment sizes as UK emerges as drug super highway to Australia

Drug cartels are exploiting Australia’s friendship with this country to build a new supply route for massive shipments of illegal drugs.

The United Kingdom has emerged as an unlikely drug super highway to Australia with European dealers taking advantage of the “friendly” relationship between the two nations.

While Covid international border closures stymied traditional drug routes into Australia, dealers instead turned to sending cocaine shipments through the postal service.

“Because of the fewer passenger flights it means drug traffickers couldn’t swallow or carry their drugs in suitcases so they’ve resorted to sending drug parcels through the air to Australia,” a police source said.

The way drugs travel changed significantly during the pandemic. Picture: Australian Federal Police

“They’re less likely to be examined if they come in from a friendly country than South America,” the source said.

“Drug traffickers are highly adaptable, the way drugs travelled during the pandemic changed significantly.”

The source said this included exploiting legitimate freight companies that carry parcels which was “particularly apparent with parcels sent to Australia from the UK”.

The UK-Australia postal drug channel was hardly used pre-Covid but law enforcement and border control analysts said it has become active in the past three years to feed the growing appetite for cocaine consumption in Australia.

The contactless drug transactions sent by airfreight may seem small fry but at a street value of $350 a gram, it equates to a 700 per cent profit margin for the party drug in Australia.

“Deliveries go across the whole country from houses, to PO boxes, anywhere where deliveries can be sent,” the AFP’s senior officer in London (International Command) Detective Superintendent Stephen Jay said.

Criminals will try any method they can to import drugs into Australia. Picture: Australian Federal Police

“Experience has shown that those sending numerous small parcels of border-controlled drugs to Australia are inevitably involved in the dealing and distribution of dangerous drugs within their local communities.

“Collaboration between law enforcement protects communities on both sides of the world”

Det Supt Jay said the AFP works very closely with UK law enforcement partners including the National Crime Agency and local police forces “with the aim to disrupt criminal groups seeking to exploit legitimate parcel routes between the UK and Australia to import illicit drugs into the country”.

A Perth man described as a trusted member of a well-organised transnational drug trafficking syndicate was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment over two drug importations. Picture: Australian Federal Police

Australia has long been a target for the drug market. Picture: Australian Federal Police

“We are able to rapidly share intelligence through our local partnerships to address this threat at its origin.,” he said.

“Criminals will try any method they can to import drugs into Australia, from concealing it within heavy machinery to food items and small mail parcels.

“We are ready to stop offenders trying to supply these dangerous drugs to our community no matter how clever they try to be”.

Detective Superintendent Stephen Jay.

In Australia, AFP Commander Kate Ferry said they were seeing evidence of a rise in drug importations as dealers prepared for a surge in demand during the holiday season.

“Our intelligence suggests there is an uptick in importations, which is what you would expect around this time of year,’’ said Ms Ferry.

“Australia has long been the target for the drug market because people are prepared to pay the highest prices in the world for it here, especially cocaine.”

What is changing, said Ms Ferry, is the size of importations.

“Ten years ago we were getting seizures of 100kg to 200kg. Now we are seeing shipments in the tonnes. It shows the cartels are prepared for bigger risks even with bigger losses occasionally,’’ she said.

In June this year, a 29-year-old New Zealand national living in Perth – described as a “trusted member of a well-known organised transnational drug trafficking syndicate” – was jailed for 10 years after pleading guilty to helping facilitate the importation $1.2m worth of cocaine and $1.5m worth of ketamine hidden in packages of purses sent from the United Kingdom.

South American drug traffickers have also changed routes, choosing to fly parcels over the Pacific thanks to fewer direct flights between Latin America and Australia and New Zealand.

“The AFP and its partners have systems and processes to stay ahead of different methodologies deployed by these groups,” Det Supt Jay said.

Originally published as Explosion in shipment sizes as UK emerges as drug super highway to Australia