Narcos on the front line: Imprisoned Australian drug traffickers revealed
These are the Australians who have been caught and jailed for their involvement in drug busts this year. See the full list.
Narcos on the Front Line
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The year was just a day old when the Australian Federal Police revealed a Sydney man was jailed for more than 13 years for his role in importing more than 500kg of cocaine hidden in banana pulp shipped from Brazil.
Here are the others spending time behind bars.
MAY 11
Canada to Sydney
Sydney man sentenced to 11 years’ jail for his role in planning to import 100kg methamphetamine into Australia from Canada hidden inside a commercial dough mixer. The man was jailed after pleading guilty to one count of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, and one count of possessing a controlled drug.
Watch episode 5 of the Narcos on the front line series above.
MAY 8
Mexico to Melbourne
Mexican national, 45. jailed for 22 years for his role in a plan to import 668kg of methamphetamine into Australia concealed in rotting raw cow hides. Authorities seized the drugs in 2019, after a shipping container arrived into Melbourne from Mexico supposedly containing “Salty Bovine Skin Cuero Verde Salado De Bovino”.
APRIL 28
Malaysia to Melbourne
Melbourne man, 40, sentenced to 16 years jail for attempting to possess 360kg of methamphetamine, worth $180m. Arrested as part of Operation Ironside in June 2021 after ABF officers examined a shipping container of furniture which arrived via Malaysia, containing 18 cardboard boxes each containing 1kg blocks filled with white crystalline substance.
APRIL 16
Serbia to Sydney
Three Sydney men – a Homebush man, 54, a Pemulwuy man, 37, and a West Hoxton man, 45 – jailed for a total of 15 years for their roles in importing about 5kg of cocaine from Serbia. The packages were addressed to fake addresses and picked up by two of the men who worked for a courier service. They would then pass the parcels on to the third man for distribution across Sydney.
APRIL 3
Off the WA coast
Eighth man found guilty over the 2017 importation of 1.2 tonnes of “pure” methamphetamine into Western Australia. The 53-year-old co-ordinated-co-ordinated the collection of the drugs from a “mothership” in international waters.
MARCH 6
South Africa to Melbourne
Man, 52, sentenced to 16 years jail over his role in the importation of 63kg of pure methamphetamine. AFP said the man was a key facilitator in importing the drugs inside a consignment of meat smokers which arrived in Melbourne from South African 2021. The estimated street value of the methamphetamine is more than $12 million.
FEBRUARY 20
Brisbane
Sydney woman, 51, jailed for 12 years for her role in attempting to import millions of dollars worth of MDMA into Australia. In October 2019, the woman travelled to Brisbane where she attempted to possess 150kg of the drug. She was found guilty of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs, and dealing in money or property reasonably suspected of being proceeds of crime.
JANUARY 1
Brazil to Sydney
Sydney man sentenced to more than 13 years in jail for importing 552kg of cocaine – worth $248m – concealed in banana pulp. Officials examined a consignment of 2000 boxes of fruit pulp in September 2020 sent from Brazil, with 275 of those boxes found to have cocaine hidden inside.
Originally published as Narcos on the front line: Imprisoned Australian drug traffickers revealed
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