Comanchero bikie Ryan Sean Givney among 13 arrested over ‘biggest cocaine haul ever’ off Queensland

A plot to import 2.3 tonnes of cocaine into Australia came hopelessly unstuck, with two of the smugglers’ boats breaking down before the crime syndicate eventually had to be towed to shore by police who had been monitoring them the entire time.

The AFP has charged 11 men and two juveniles following an investigation into a transnational organised crime syndicate accused of conspiring to import 2.34 tonnes of cocaine into Australia by sea.

A plot to import 2.3 tonnes of ­cocaine into Australia came hopelessly unstuck when a fishing boat used to collect the drugs broke down and had to be towed to shore by police who were monitoring the smuggling operation the entire time.

And in a case of history repeating, the crime syndicate behind the bungled billion-dollar cocaine shipment – the biggest ever intercepted and seized by police in Australia – previously had to abandon another boat after running aground on a sandbar.

Police on the weekend nabbed 13 people allegedly involved in importing the cocaine, including a man accused of being the vice-president of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle club’s Brisbane chapter, Ryan Sean Givney, 44.

The joint Australian Federal Police and Queensland Police operation was launched only last month and involved investigators tracking a fishing boat as it left Hervey Bay to collect the cocaine from a “mother ship” 460km off the coast.

On the way back to shore with the drugs allegedly on board in tight bales, the fishing boat broke down about 18km north of K’gari (formerly Fraser Island) on Saturday evening.

“Suffice to say, I don’t think we expected their vessel to break down. They certainly didn’t,” AFP Commander Stephen Jay said.

“What we do know is the syndicate previously attempted to use another vessel and it had broken down as well.”

After the earlier breakdown involving a different vessel, the syndicate last week spent $150,000 on buying the recreational fishing boat that was ultimately used to collect the drugs.

Police allege it was purchased by David Pfeffer, 35, from Isis in Central Queensland.

When the second boat broke down too, the two men on board, Mr Pfeffer and Mark Sutton, 57, from Dundowran on the Fraser Coast, were left stranded before police arrived and arrested them.

“I understand they were there for a few hours before police arrived,” Commander Jay said.

Police footage from the operation that seized a record amount of cocaine.

Queensland water police towed the stricken boat back to a Hervey Bay marina where the drugs were seized.

The AFP estimated the drugs were worth $760m, but previous police estimates from cocaine ­seizures put the street value at up to $1bn.

Operation Tyrrendor began after investigators received intelligence that a criminal syndicate with links to the Comanchero was planning to ship drugs into Australia, police said.

Two men – the alleged Comanchero vice-president Mr Givney, from North Cleveland, and Donald Vilaylath, 43, from Mansfield in Brisbane – were arrested near Strathdees Boat Ramp in the Port of Bundaberg area about 7pm on Saturday. Police allege they were planning to collect the drugs onshore.

“About 7.40pm, AFP tactical officers boarded the stranded recreational fishing boat off K’gari and arrested the two men on board,” a joint AFP-QPS statement said.

“A search of the vessel allegedly found 51 bales with roped netting around them. Each bale contained about 40kg of a white substance packaged in individual 1kg blocks.

“The substance returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine. The total estimated gross weight of the suspected cocaine located is 2.34 tonnes, which is the largest amount of cocaine seized by the AFP.”

The cocaine was packed in bales on a fishing boat that broke down heading to shore.

Riccardo Marius and Geovani Marius, aged 20 and 22 from Slacks Creek, and Daniel Schievan, 28, from Lota, were arrested near a fast food restaurant in Bundaberg about 7.50pm on Saturday. Zaquias Matika, 20, from Edens Landing, Nukutawhiti Matika, 28, from Heritage Park, and Andrew Bamforth, 34, from Springfield, were arrested along with two juveniles in a traffic stop near Link Road in Bundaberg about 9pm.

“Two of the people who were arrested in Bundaberg, we’ll allege, were patched members of the Comanchero,” Commander Jay said.

A search warrant was also executed by police at a house in Victoria Point on Brisbane’s bayside, where 51-year-old Mark Sloan was arrested. Commander Jay alleged Mr Sloan was “very much part of the organising group of this ­importation”.

Some of the seized 2.34 tonnes of cocaine.

The 13 accused were each charged with conspiring to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs, carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

All are Australian citizens.

In Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday, Mr Givney applied for bail but was refused.

His lawyer Adam Moschella, from Bell Criminal Lawyers, said that aside from being in the vicinity there was “nothing concrete” linking him to his co-accused in a circumstantial case.

The NSW Crime Commission provided intelligence supporting the investigation. “Investigations into the origins of the drugs remain ongoing, and we will work with our international and domestic law enforcement partners and border agencies to identify the criminal syndicates and anyone who is involved in facilitating this alleged attempted importation,” Commander Jay said.

“We expected it to be a multi-tonne seizure. On the juveniles, it’s not appropriate for me to comment further on that. They’ll be charged as juveniles with conspiracy to import.”

Queensland Police Service Detective Acting Chief Superintendent Craig Morrow said “strong relationships with partner agencies nationally and internationally” remained crucial in the fight against organised crime.

ABF Acting Assistant Commissioner James Copeman said the operation “has decisively dismantled a major drug trafficking network”.