Joint media release

Police arrested four people in Melbourne over the past week as part of an investigation into an organised crime syndicate linked to the trafficking of drugs in Victoria.

A joint-agency police investigation has resulted in the seizure of approximately $4.7 million cash, 5kg of illicit drugs, and a number of cryptocurrency automatic teller machines, following inquiries into the importation of prohibited drugs and alleged money laundering in New South Wales.

An FBI-led global campaign targeting transnational criminal syndicates conducting and facilitating Business Email Compromise (BEC) schemes has resulted in the arrest of 65 people world-wide, highlighting an issue that can have devastating consequences for Australian businesses.

An AFP-led investigation targeting transnational organised crime has seized 416kg of cocaine off Yorke Peninsula, the biggest haul of illicit drugs ever confiscated in South Australia, worth an estimated street value of more than $166 million dollars.

Two members of a criminal syndicate arrested in 2019 for importing 228 kilograms of cocaine into Sydney have been sentenced to 28 and 23 years’ imprisonment respectively.

The Australian Federal Police-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce (CACT) has secured the forfeiture of $2,745,000 in illicit cash and three luxury cars after three separate investigations in Western Australia.

Six people have been charged after detectives seized a national record of cannabis at a rural property in the state’s west, with an estimated potential street value of nearly $67 million.

Three men are expected to face Perth Magistrate's Court today (5 January 2022) charged over an alleged plot to import almost $100 million worth of methamphetamine into Western Australia ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations.

The second phase of the Australian Federal Police-led Operation Ironside has this week resulted in eight men charged or issued court attendance notices in NSW for drug and proceeds of crime offences.

Three men have been charged by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF) for an alleged attempt to import 140 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia concealed in catering equipment.