Three Australians arrested in Serbia over alleged cocaine haul
Three Australians arrested in Serbia over what police say was the second-largest cocaine seizure in Australian history.
The seizure of 1.28 tonnes of cocaine in Sydney is the second-largest in Australian history, police say, as the identities of three Australians arrested in Serbia over the drug haul are revealed.
The Australian Federal Police said in a statement that Operation Amorgos began in April last year when Australian Border Force officers intercepted a container of prefabricated steel arriving into Sydney via China, discovering 2576 individual blocks of cocaine.
It is second only to the seizure of 1.4 tonnes of cocaine in February last year in a joint AFP-ABF operation.
AFP forensic chemists deconstructed and analysed the cocaine and found it had a purity of 78 per cent, giving it an estimated street value of up to $500 million.
“On Tuesday, 16 January 2018, three Australian nationals were detained by Serbian authorities… for their suspected links to an organised crime syndicate the AFP believes is responsible for facilitating the importation of 1.28 tonnes of cocaine,” the AFP statement says.
“Further investigation and liaison with Serbian authorities is still ongoing.”
No arrests had been made in Australia but the AFP executed five search warrants on Wednesday in Canberra, Murrumbateman, Jeir and Goulburn.
Construction and livestock industry figure Rohan Arnold was one of the men arrested.
The other two Australians have been identified as Tristan Waters, 34, and David Campbell. Diab Geagea, a Lebanese citizen, was also arrested.
Mr Waters was last year mentioned in a news report about the tax fraud investigation involving former Tax Office deputy commissioner Michael Cranston’s son and daughter.
He was named in the report as being co-director in a company with Daniel Hausman, who has been charged over an alleged blackmail attempt against members of the alleged tax fraud syndicate.
Mr Waters once ran security for Canberra nightclub Minque and was arrested in 2008 after cocaine and MDMA were found in his car, the Fairfax article reported.
An ACT Supreme Court judge noted in 2013 that police could not prove the drugs were Mr Waters’s and he was not charged.
Commenting on the arrests in Serbia, AFP Detective Superintendent Stephen Dametto said cooperation with international partners had identified an alleged organised crime syndicate.
“We know Australia remains one of the most attractive markets for drug imports – in 2017 we made record seizures of cocaine at the Australian border in AFP joint operations.”
ABF Acting Assistant Commissioner Tim Fitzgerald said intelligence officers led to the container being identified as it was travelling to Sydney.
It was then targeted for a search when it arrived, with Mr Fitzgerald calling it a “sophisticated concealment”.
Serbian media say the four men were arrested in a five-star hotel in the centre of Belgrade, and have been detained but not charged.
An online profile says Canberra-born Mr Arnold, 43, has a career in the steel manufacturing industry spanning more than 20 years.
“His experience with the management of steel and development companies in Australia has also spanned many projects in regional Australia, including as one of the developers of the South Eastern Livestock Exchange (SELX) and the Mortlake Saleyards,” his website states.
Mr Arnold had been due to open the $16 million Western Victorian Livestock Exchange in Mortlake on Monday with Brendan Abbey.
“We’re just in amazement — I’m dealing with it right now. It’s come as a complete shock to us,” Mr Abbey told the ABC.
It has previously been reported that the Mr Arnold was director of a Goulburn engineering firm, Mass Steel (trading as Old MS Pty Ltd) that was put into liquidation in June 2012 owing former employees $1.42 million in entitlements and super. Further sums were reportedly owed to suppliers.
Among numerous other companies he has been involved in, he was a director of Solutions 4 Steel Pty Ltd, which later changed its name. It was reported in 2013 that the firm’s website had ongoing projects which included the Australian Institute of Police Management, Canberra Hospital’s acute mental health building and Cessnock Correctional Centre.
With AAP
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