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26-09-2014, 04:22 PM | #1 | ||
Lyminge, Shepway, Kent
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Geelong - Go Cats
Posts: 3,197
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http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ta...26-10m9x1.html
EXCLUSIVE A multi-agency law enforcement taskforce has uncovered an international drug cartel believed responsible for multiple ice and cocaine importations through Melbourne docks. The alleged leaders of the group are of Albanian descent and although they have few criminal convictions are considered major organised crime figures who have been influential for years. The leaders were identified by a secret Australian Crime Commission probe, which resulted in the Trident docklands taskforce setting up a major investigation into the group. Police arrested a man, code named "The Spaniard", and a Melbourne man on Thursday night in Hillside before conducting further raids in South Melbourne. The men, aged 49 and 41, were charged with drug-trafficking offences and remanded in custody at an out-of-sessions remand hearing overnight. Police also seized an imported 1967 US Chevrolet Impala allegedly driven by The Spaniard. It was the culmination of a four-week surveillance operation on a series of key figures in the syndicate. As part of the operation Trident investigators have seized 30 kilos of ice valued at more than $20 million and a substantial amount of cocaine impregnated in clothing imported from Austria. The ice is believed to have been manufactured in the US and imported via China. Police have identified at least 10 senior members of the international syndicate living in Melbourne. Aged from their 20s to their 50s they are virtually unknown in the wider criminal world, live modest lifestyles and are experts at counter surveillance. Financial checks show they have been involved in sending vast amounts of money overseas in unexplained transactions. "They have flown under the radar for years," one police source said. Police have identified one Spanish middleman who has made several unexplained trips to Melbourne. The taskforce is expected to use federal confiscation laws to move on the syndicate's asset base. The syndicate is set up in a way that some key players do not know each other's identities to minimise the risk of an informer sabotaging the syndicate. Many transactions are conducted via go-betweens or third parties who are considered expendable. The Trident Taskforce was set up in July 2012 and is staffed by investigators from Victoria Police, Australian Federal Police, Customs, the Australian Tax Office, Australian Crime Commission and money-laundering experts from Austrac. The federal government committed to respond with the Trident Taskforce in Victoria and Jericho in Queensland. They have said Trident is now a permanent force and will continue working on the wharves. Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/ta...#ixzz3EOs4MRoh
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