Police say they have smashed a transnational ice importing syndicate with the arrest of the alleged ringleader and a freight forwarding worker who allegedly used his role to help import the drug and its precursor.
Federal Police and Border Force were tipped off to a commercial dough mixer allegedly containing 100 kg of methylamphetamine secreted inside by their North American counterparts in October last year.
Yuan Long Yang, 37, is arrested at his Punchbowl Home
Royal Canadian Mounted Police seized the chemical, replacing it with an inert substance and sending the mixer on to its original destination, Wentworthville in Sydney’s west.
That day, Yuan Long Yang, 37, was arrested at his Punchbowl home. Police allege he was the mastermind of the importation plot and have charged him with attempting to import and possess a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. He remains before the courts.
The commercial dough mixer in which police allege the syndicate hid 100kg of ice for import
Following Mr Yang’s arrest, investigators then attended a commercial premise in Caringbah in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire. There, they discovered another alleged illicit consignment that police say contained a tonne of methylamine, a prohibited precursor used to make ice and MDMA.
“AFP officers replaced the methylamine with an inert substance and delivered it to an address in Wetherill Park in early December 2021,” police said in a statement.
Last week, investigators charged Beecroft man Tse Cheung Herman Ko, who they allege used his position as a freight forwarding worker to facilitate the import of the drugs.
“During the search warrant police seized electronic devices including a mobile phone and laptop, on which they allegedly found evidence relating to the drug importation,” police said in a statement.
Charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of ice and supporting a criminal organisation, Mr Ko faced Hornsby Local Court on Thursday where he was formally refused bail to appear in the same court later this month. He faces up to a life sentence if convicted.
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