Brazen crims hone-in on Australia’s lucrative drug market

InsiderS say seizures once considered eye-watering were now commonplace as crims try to cash in on Australians willing to fork out big bucks for drugs.

The willingness of Australians to pay top dollar for illicit drugs has made organised crime increasingly willing to risk run the gauntlet trying to import massive shipments of cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and party drugs into the country.

Police and legal figures say seizures once considered eye-watering were now commonplace as syndicates move to cash in on the country’s relentless demand for methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin.

In particular, the street price of cocaine has recently ballooned to $400 a gram or more, having for years hovered around $300.

One leading criminal lawyer said $100 million busts, which were once regarded as exceptional, were now “routine”.

Australian Federal Police acting Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto told the Herald Sun Australia was now an especially lucrative market for criminal groups importing drugs.

In recent years, the AFP, state police forces and Border Force had flagged concerns about dealers buying drugs direct from Europe, South America and Asia from online, drug dark web drug “supermarkets”, but years of persistent work has seen that method dwindle.

Aussie looking to score cocaine are having to fork out big bucks. Picture: istock

Assistant Commissioner Dametto said drugs still come into Australia through the mail system, but there had been a shift towards larger shipments backed by major crime groups.

“The price that Australian’s are prepared to pay makes our market for drugs so lucrative,” he said.

He said the “industrial scale” of recent seizures should not distract Australians from toll drug abuse takes on individuals, families, and the broader community, including the healthcare system.

The overwhelming majority of illicit drugs Australians abuse are imported, rather than locally manufactured.

The AFP Ironside investigation, revealed last year, showed the pure business nature of one gang’s plotting to bring cocaine and methamphetamine worth $1 billion.

Those Melbourne criminals were monitored using the supposedly secure AN0M encrypted app to recruit investors and effectively sell 1kg shares of a cocaine shipment for $20,000 each.

Some bought 25 blocks in the knowledge that, once they reached Australia, they had a 10-fold street value.

The most recently available Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission data showed the massive increase was not confined to the size of individual consignment.

It revealed the total weight of illicit drugs seized in Australia increased from 9.3 tonnes to 38.5 tonnes in under a decade

AFP commissioner Reece Kershaw told senate estimates earlier this year law the vast majority of his agencies overseas work was in combating drug syndicates.

“The past year underscored that we live in a globalised criminal economy, with actions and events thousands of kilometres away in Colombia, Syria or Turkey, directly impacting on Australians in Cabramatta, Sale or Taroom,” he said.