A 50-year-old Chinese national has today been jailed for his role in a failed attempt to smuggle liquid methamphetamine and MDMA into Australia in 2016.
A large-scale, major joint Australian and Chinese law enforcement operation charged the man and seven co-accused following the seizure of liquid methamphetamine and liquid MDMA found inside barrels found on a small vessel near Palm Beach in northern Sydney.
Australian authorities later intercepted the 'mothership' associated with the illicit smuggling operation off Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The man was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of four years in the Sydney District Court today (Friday 17 July, 2020), after pleading guilty to his role in assisting his co-accused to import the commercial quantity of border controlled drugs.
The multi-agency operation featured the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and China National Narcotics Control Commission and operated under the partnership known as Taskforce Blaze.
During the operation in November 2016, three male Chinese nationals on board the vessel were arrested and charged over the importation and possession of a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs, after ABF officers alerted the AFP and NSW Police Force Marine Area Command to the suspicious delivery attempt.
An additional two Australian-based men, a New Zealand national and a Taiwanese national, who attempted to collect the illicit drugs, were also later charged.
Three of the co-accused were later sentenced to the following:
- In 2018, the New Zealand national was sentenced to 9 years and 9 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 5 years.
- In 2019, a Chinese national was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 4.5 years.
- In 2019, the Taiwanese national was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment, backdated to the date of his arrest, with a non-parole period of 7 years.
AFP Eastern Command Acting Assistant Commissioner Kirsty Schofield said the multi-agency international operation was a testament to the combined determination to stop criminals from importing drugs into Australia.
"The AFP and its partners are setting an international benchmark for law enforcement cooperation. Through our combined commitment to combatting this crime type, we are working across multiple jurisdictions and transnational borders to deal significant blows to organised crime syndicates," she said.
