Due to his involvement in a scheme to bring cocaine into Australia from Greece worth an estimated $7 million, a man has been sentenced to six years in prison.
The 49-year-old entered a guilty plea to importing a commercial quantity of a narcotic that is controlled at the border in May 2022, and he made an appearance in South Australian District Court today.
As part of Operation Ironside, which the Australian Federal Police (AFP) claimed stopped a conspiracy to smuggle drugs into Australia within two welding equipment, the individual was detained and charged in September 2020.
Upon arrival in South Australia in August 2020, the AFP notified the Australian Border Force to pick up the air freight shipment for inspection.
Officers from the border force removed a panel from one piece of machinery and discovered an electronic safe after an X-ray of the welding machines showed irregularities in the cargo.
Inside the second welder was also a safe that held nine rectangular parcels containing white powder.
According to the AFP, forensic tests verified that the eighteen parcels had a combined 18 kg of over 80 percent pure cocaine, which could have been supplied to 20,000 individuals for small-scale street sales.
“Inquiries by the AFP found the man had been engaged to receive the consignment, including sending more than $8000 to a business in Athens and initially arranging for the machines to be delivered to his former workplace without the knowledge of the business owners,” according to the AFP.
“After that, he created a fictitious business and modified the delivery address to his house.
“The man was informed that the shipment had been confiscated by authorities when he went to pick it up from a goods forwarding company.
“Electronic gadgets and paperwork related to the shipment were taken by police in September 2020 when they carried out a search warrant at the man’s inner-city Adelaide house.
“Following a search of the property, the man was arrested and charged.”
