Comanchero bikies, crime gangs move to Canada to get drugs from Mexican cartels to Australia

The Comanchero OMCG and organised crime gangs are mobilising to a new foreign powerbase to get drugs smuggled into Australia from Mexican cartels. See the video.

Exclusive: Mexican cartels are trying to flood Australia with cocaine and methamphetamine to cash in on sky-high street prices, prompting the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle group to expand its trafficking network in North America.

News Corp can reveal the bikie gang’s operatives have set up shop in Canada, where the cartels are now producing meth in an effort to evade authorities via new global drug routes.

The Comanchero OMCG and other organised crime gangs have also groomed sleeper agents in the freight industry who can sneak illegal shipments into Australia through their legitimate jobs.

The alarming intelligence has been revealed through the Australian Border Force’s Operation Jardena crackdown on trusted insider threats in the supply chain.

For the first time, the border protection agency now has an officer stationed in the US, tasked with partnering with American authorities to stem the flow of drugs on the front line.

The Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Club are moving drugs through Canada.

In an exclusive interview, Border Force inspector Vanessa Ruff said it was “very well known to cartels” that Australia had some of the world’s highest street prices, with a gram of cocaine costing as much as $500 and a single hit of ice often sold for $100 or more.

“That was not well known for law enforcement when I got here,” she said.

Law enforcement from aorund the globe work with the US from the San Pedro Port in California to find illegal contraband. Picture: Coleman-Rayner

Her mission has now put US agencies on high alert for drug shipments down under, with US Homeland Security Investigations supervisory special agent Russell Simons warning the cartels were trying to cash in on the “big market in Australia”.

Australian Border Force inspector and Operation Jardena supply chain liaison officer, Vanessa Ruff and US Homeland Security Investigations supervisory special agent, Russell Simons. Picture: Coleman-Rayner

“A lot of our targets here are seizing that opportunity to try and get contraband – mostly narcotics – over there for the mark-up,” he said.

“It’s all about business for them. They want to maximise their profits just like any corporation.”

Australian Border Force inspector and Operation Jardena supply chain liaison officer, Vanessa Ruff and US Homeland Security Investigations supervisory special agent, Russell Simons talking to other officers at the San Pedro Port in California. Picture: Coleman-Rayner

Ms Ruff is based in Los Angeles but has developed relationships with agencies across North and South America, including in Canada, where she worked with local gang squad officers as well as the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission to identify the presence of drug brokers for the Comanchero group.

If a suspected package is seized it is taken into an undisclosed private warehouse where it is X-rayed and dealt with in the appropriate manner. Picture: Coleman-Rayner

Canada is now one of the top sources of drug imports to Australia, as organised crime gangs try to bypass border scrutiny through alternative supply routes and Mexican cartels shift some production north of the US border.

See how it works in the video and graphic below.

While the Royal Canadian Mounted Police declined to comment on the Canadian expansion of the Comancheros, a spokeswoman said outlaw motorcycle gangs were a “serious criminal threat”.

“They have vast resources at their disposal and their criminal activity in Canada includes drug trafficking, fraud, counterfeiting, money laundering, contraband smuggling, extortion, violence and illegal gaming,” she said.

Ovidio Guzman in a residential compound near the centre of Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, the alleged leader of his father’s former cartel. Picture: Supplied

The Mexican army’s operation following the recapture in Sinaloa of Ovidio Guzman, son of Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman. Picture: Getty

Ms Ruff, a supply chain liaison officer for Operation Jardena, said trusted insiders were used by organised crime to move drugs through ports and airports.

“All good crooks in Australia, the Comancheros in particular, they have people in the supply chain,” she said.

“They might have a nephew that’s trained legally to be a customs broker, and he starts off as a warehouse worker and works his way up in the industry, and it’s literally like a sleeper. And 20 years down the track, he’s right to go – he’s a legitimate, well thought of customs broker.

“The wife will own the warehouse licence, the husband will drive the truck, and they’ve got the whole supply chain covered.”

AN0M’s encrypted app led to the set up of Operation Jardena. Picture: AFP

Operation Tin Can involved customs, police, and other law enforcement agencies from across the world, targeting international drug trafficking. Picture: ABF

Mr Simons agreed, saying the “true insider threat” was “the most difficult to identify”.

“They’ve gone through the processes, they have all the connections,” he said.

Ms Ruff said bikie gangs were expanding their presence overseas as they had become willing to shop around different cartels to buy enough drugs to be sold in Australia.

The Border Force inspector, who took on the posting almost a year ago, said drug shipments increased dramatically after pandemic border restrictions eased.

“They kept producing during Covid and they had all the supply chains shut down … so now they’re just trying to move it and get rid of it,” she said.

Ms Ruff played a key role in Operation Tin Can – revealed by News Corp last month – which made more than 100 drug seizures and 43 arrests across 58 countries. The transnational joint operation seized almost 100 tonnes of cocaine and 314 kilograms of cannabis.

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Originally published as Comanchero bikies, crime gangs move to Canada to get drugs from Mexican cartels to Australia