Six arrested over $60m cocaine boat bust off Tasmania

January 18, 2017 WJN Reporter Australia, News 0

Six men have been arrested over a plot to smuggle more than $60 million worth of cocaine into Australia in an ex-Japanese whaling vessel.

Police said they will have to trawl through thousands of telephone intercepts in their case against the men.

The six were arrested during 15 raids across Victoria and Queensland on Wednesday.

They are accused of trying to import 186kg of cocaine that was seized from the 50-metre former whaling boat on December 12.

The alleged syndicate had been under surveillance for about a year before the boat was intercepted in international waters near Hobart on December 12, police said.

They described the vessel as a “mothership” from where, it is alleged, the intended drug deals were to be carried out off the coast of Tasmania.

 Four of the men, Omer Tok, 39, Mohamed Kaddour, 47, Christopher Peroulis, 48, and Youssif Tawfik, 25, appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court later on Wednesday.

None of the four charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of cocaine applied for bail and they were all remanded in custody until May.

In court, Australian Federal Police asked for extra time to go through the evidence against the men.

“There are … probably thousands of listening devices and telephone intercepts that need to be transcribed, and in a few cases interpreted,” a federal prosecutor told the court.

He said the charges involved a ship that was registered internationally.

In Queensland, Vasilious Triantafilopoulos appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court where an order was made to extradite him to Melbourne.

Moshey Youkhana will also be extradited to Melbourne after he faced the Southport Magistrates Court.

Earlier in Melbourne on Wednesday AFP assistant commissioner Neil Gaughan told reporters at a press conference that the men were part of a “well-funded, determined and significant” organised crime cell.

The cocaine, which has not yet been tested for purity, found on the ship was wrapped in plastic bricks labelled with horse and camel stickers.

Police also seized about $93,000 in cash, a quantity of drugs, stolen vessels and a pill press after searching houses, factories and boats in Melbourne and hotel rooms in Queensland.

Ten men who were found on board the boat, nine Chinese and one Singaporean, were charged last year over cocaine haul.

The Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF) announced the results of the major multi-agency operation this afternoon.

“We see this is a fantastic outcome in terms of reducing the harm that these drugs do in the community,” one spokesman said.

Source   www.9news.com.au

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