The AUSTRALIAN Federal Police has seized approximately 41 kilograms of cocaine from two refrigerated containers that were imported into Port Botany.
The first container, imported from Chile, was examined by Australian Border Force (ABF) officers at the Sydney Container Examination Facility on 23 January, who found 20 bricks of cocaine, estimated to weigh 1kg each, in the container’s back wall panels.
The second container, imported from Belgium, was examined by ABF officers the next day (24 January) and was also found to contain 21 bricks of cocaine, estimated at 1kg each.
The AFP and ABF say they have observed this attempted drug import trend from the past two years in which criminal syndicates hide cocaine in refrigerated containers used by legitimate businesses to import goods into Sydney.
Syndicate members then try to break into docks, container facilities or other storage areas to remove the drugs.
Authorities say they are now actively targeting refrigerated containers coming into Sydney, with the AFP interested in information about, or from, people who have been asked to take delivery of, or store, a refrigerated industrial container.
The AFP and ABF have observed a significant increase in instances of this since April 2023, specifically with cocaine, resulting in the seizure of more than one tonne of the drugs to date.
Both agencies said they hold grave concerns the practice will result in harm to the safety and security of innocent workers at the facilities where criminals try to retrieve drugs to then sell onto the community.
AFP detective superintendent Peter Fogarty said investigators had also identified that cocaine was being concealed in the engine compartments of the specialist refrigerated containers used by legitimate companies to ship goods such as berries that needed refrigeration.
“The AFP attends Port Botany on a regular basis and has seized multiple separate containers, each containing between 20 and 40 one-kilogram blocks of cocaine, along with tracking devices,” Mr Fogarty said.
“We believe these tracking devices are used by transnational serious organised crime syndicate members to identify and monitor the containers containing the illicit drugs once they arrive in Australia.
“These syndicate members then wait until they can identify an opportunity to break into docks, storage yards, warehouses or other facilities to access the drugs.”
Mr Fogarty said this practice was extremely dangerous and put people’s lives at risk.
“Our message to these criminal syndicates is we are on to you, and we will continue to actively target refrigerated containers coming into Sydney to stop this dangerous behaviour,” he said
Four men who pleaded guilty to accessing refrigerated containers concealing cocaine will be sentenced in February this year.
ABF superintendent Jared Leighton said the detections by ABF officers were significant.
“The ABF works hand in hand with commercial partners, licenced depots and logistics companies in key areas to identify and address security and accessibility risks, but also in its approach to tackling organised criminal behaviour,” Leighton said.
“Our ABF officers work around the clock to examine shipments for abnormalities, critically reviewing containers in their entirety. These seizures are strong examples of the excellent work of our officers, detecting unique ways criminal syndicates attempt to infiltrate our borders.
“Criminal syndicates will attempt to exploit any vulnerability in our border controls; infiltration of cargo supply chains is not a problem unique to Australia. Law enforcement agencies across the globe are dedicating significant resources to combat the influence of organised crime in cargo and traveller supply chains.”
