By Perry Duffin
Three men are facing potential life sentences after police allegedly busted a crime syndicate as it tried to recover hundreds of kilograms of drugs hidden in machinery in a Sydney workshop.
Three men along with a 17-year-old boy were arrested by Australian Federal Police at a Wetherill Park workshop as they allegedly took power tools to an industrial pulley filled with 233 kilograms of fake drugs.
An industrial pulley, imported from China, allegedly containing 233kg of methamphetamine has been intercepted by authorities. Four males have been arrested after a raid at Wetherill Park.Credit: Australian Federal Police
The massive steel wheel had been sent from China packed with methamphetamine with a street value of more than $140 million, the AFP alleges, but it was intercepted in late April by authorities in Australia who swapped the drug for an inert substance.
The AFP alleges the boy and three men were an “integral part” of a criminal syndicate whose role was to access the methamphetamine.
An image of a bike uploaded by Mounir Mokdassi, an alleged member of a drug syndicate arrested over a plot to import 233 kilograms of methamphetamine, the AFP alleges.
The teenager, from Penrith, cannot be identified because of his age. He was arrested in May alongside Central Coast men Jack Martin, 21, from Saint Hubert’s Island and Jake Cucek, 23, from Woy Woy.
Mounir Mokdassi, the eldest of the alleged syndicate, builds and rents custom Harley-Davidson motorbikes and lives at Glenmore Park.
He posted a picture of a bike with the custom plate “KNGPN” just a month before his arrest with laughing emojis. It’s unclear whether he owns the bike.
The three men and teenager were all charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of illegal drugs – that charge carries a maximum life in prison if found guilty in court.
Police seized power tools the group were allegedly using to cut into the giant red pulley wheel, along with their phones.
Photographs supplied by police from the Wetherill Park workshop appear to show gouges in the pulley wheel from a large angle grinder. An unidentifiable man in high-vis workwear can be seen handcuffed in the background.
Each of the three men was refused bail or did not ask for release when they appeared in court in May. They have yet to enter pleas.
The magistrate ordered them to re-appear in the Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday.
The boy was bailed under strict conditions but must face the same court on Thursday.
“Had these drugs reached our communities, countless lives would have been impacted – inflicting a high social cost through crime, including the loss of life, increased healthcare and justice costs and loss of productivity,” AFP Commander John Tanti said.
Gouges in the side of the pulley and an angle grinder suggest the men were allegedly attempting to remove the substances from the wheel, according to the AFP.Credit: Australian Federal Police
“Transnational organised crime does not respect borders but the AFP has repeatedly demonstrated it can thrive in a borderless environment to protect the Australian community.”
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