Iranian expats targeted as unwitting drug mules
Middle Eastern crime syndicates are targeting expats living in Melbourne to smuggle methamphetamine into Australia.
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Iranian criminals are targeting vulnerable members of their expat community in Melbourne and enticing them into becoming unwitting drug mules.
The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal that the Australian Federal Police has discovered that an increasing number of Iranian expats are being used by Middle Eastern Organised Crime syndicates to smuggle methamphetamine into the country.
The AFP said they had uncovered a number of cases in Victoria but believe the scheme is likely being carried out across Australia.
In 2019-2020 authorities here detected 375 air and mail packages from Iran and Turkey with a combined total of 80 kilograms of methamphetamine, worth $8 million, hidden inside.
The scheme has seen strangers contacting Iranian expats in Australia as well as victims being targeted by distant acquaintances and relatives in Iran. The crime syndicates behind the scheme are believed to have ties to Iran, Turkey and United Arab Emirates.
“We are aware of a growing pattern where an overseas recruiter will target and contact an
Iranian expat living in Australia over social media to offer them employment distributing goods such as car polish, picture frames and decorative stones from Iran,” AFP Commander Investigations Todd Hunter told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“Members of the community targeted by the criminal syndicate are offered lucrative pay for
receiving and storing a package at their home, before it is collected by another unknown
person, who is allegedly connected to the criminal syndicate distributing the illicit drugs,” Cdr Hunter said.
In one case a 52-year-old Iranian expat living in Melbourne was contacted over WhatsApp by a former Iranian religious leader, who was living in the Middle East.
The man offered the expat a job opportunity to distribute Iranian agricultural products for sale in Australia.
He soon told the expat he would be sent a package of car polish and someone would then contact him to collect it.
Several similar shipments arrived over a number of months and were each collected by strangers, with the Iranian expat paid several hundred dollars on each occasion.
Australian Border Force (ABF) officers then discovered a car polish package sent to the man and confirmed it contained 2.5 kilograms of liquid methamphetamine.
The AFP raided the man’s property and interviewed him before releasing him without charge after coming to the conclusion he was innocent.
The probe led to multiple arrests overseas.
“We are warning members of the community to be vigilant to these schemes,” Cdr Hunter said. “Receiving a substantial payment for the simple task of receiving goods and passing them along should raise alarm bells – if the job opportunity seems too good to be true, it probably is.
“Importing and possession of border controlled drugs can result in criminal prosecution which can lead to penalties of up to life imprisonment.
“We want to ensure innocent people are not caught up in the work of criminal syndicates through these illicit schemes.”
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