How organised crime gangs are using NSW coastal ports to ply their trade

They are the new battleground for organised crime gangs and the cops who chase them – tiny tourist ports littered up and down the NSW coastline which may appear sleepy but possess a hidden and dark underbelly.

More than a tonne of cocaine was allegedly seized from a boat which had been followed from Sydney, stopping at locations including Port Stephens, Port Macquarie and South West Rocks. Picture: NSW Police.

It could be the massive amounts of cash used in a bid to quietly purchase a boat from an otherwise nondescript wharf in the Hacking River which allegedly led organised crime detectives to uncover over a tonne of cocaine.

Maybe it was the eagle eyes of local water police at Port Stephens which allegedly led to a pre-dawn search of a moored boat amid concerns about the theft of a cache of guns from a nearby premises.

Or it could have been any number of quiet observations – both by law enforcement and keen-eyed locals – which has raised eyebrows and prompted a closer, keener look.

This is the new battleground for organised crime gangs and the cops who chase them – tiny tourist ports littered up and down the NSW coastline which may appear sleepy but possess a hidden underbelly.

Police intelligence shows that city-based organised crime groups are not only utilising the apparent dozy docks, but are actively employing locals in a bid to stay under the radar.

Police on board a boat after they allegedly seized more than a tonne of cocaine on the mid-north coast. Picture: NewsWire Handout

Like the two young Novocastrians who were woken from their slumber aboard the boat Seas The Day moored in Shoal Bay on March 3.

Strike Force Blaine, comprised of investigators from the state’s organised crime squad, had taken over the investigation into the alleged theft of four guns from a Salamander Bay home a month earlier.

The 3.40am wake up call in foggy Shoal Bay – the first southern harbour inside the Port Stephens headlands – would later see both young men charged with gun offences.

Strike Force Blaine investigators made two arrests after seizing firearms and ammunition from an abandoned car at Hillsborough. The gear was allegedly stolen from a Salamander Bay property. Picture: NSW Police

A few months later, the same strike force began investigating the cash purchase of a white 13.84m SeaRay sedan bridge cruiser vessel at Burraneer Bay Marine Yacht Sales.

That cruiser was followed as it headed up the coast and moored at Port Stephens before a Cardiff South electrician and a Merewether firefighter got on board.

Police allege the boat was then sailed to Port Macquarie, where it moored in the Hastings River for a few days, before it continued on to the Macleay River at South West Rocks.

On May 9, water police intercepted the boat as he travelled back towards South West Rocks and allegedly found 1.1 tonnes of cocaine on board.

Organised crime squad detectives are working with local law enforcement and water police to make inroads into alleged criminality up and down the east coast. Picture: NSW Police.

The firefighter and the electrician are now two of four people before the courts.

There is no suggestion that the two men arrested at Shoal Bay, nor anyone associated with Burraneer Bay Marine Yacht Sales, had anything to do with the alleged cocaine haul.

As organised crime squad commander Det Supt Peter Faux says, however, they are examples of how large-scale organised crime networks have stretched their tentacles well outside of Sydney.

And as those criminal tentacles have extended, so have the ways law enforcement are tracking them.

Along with the valuable intelligence from local police, including their water police, detectives have also been able to dial into legitimate businesses and all the data they have stored.

Red flags for using cash for large purchases – and links to cash being used for everything from food to thousands of dollars worth of petrol.

Like suspicious money transactions between bank accounts and any “anomalies” picked up by experts.

And money laundering operations which help fund the boots-on-the-ground criminality.

“We know that organised crime is moving into these more discreet locations but something will always bring attention to themselves, and we are in the right place to see it,” Det Supt Faux said.

“There are some really good examples of how locals, including local police and the marine area command, have identified opportunities for us to pursue with our sort of larger capabilities of State Crime Command.”

Originally published as How organised crime gangs are using NSW coastal ports to ply their trade