Two men whose attempt to import almost 600kg of cocaine into Australia was thwarted during an ocean pursuit off the coast of Queensland and New South Wales, were yesterday (4 November, 2024) sentenced to a combined 28 years’ imprisonment.
The Supreme Court of Brisbane sentenced one of the men, now aged 42, to 15 years’ imprisonment, and sentenced the other man, now aged 48, to 13 years’ imprisonment.
With time already served they are both eligible for immediate parole.
The pair pleaded guilty in October, 2024, to importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code Act (Cth).
They were previously found guilty of the offence by a Supreme Court of Brisbane jury and were sentenced to 28 years and 25 years’ imprisonment respectively in 2021.
The pair was granted a re-trial after a successful appeal earlier this year, however both men subsequently changed their pleas to guilty and were re-sentenced yesterday.
The pair and a third man were arrested in 2018 and 2019 during Operation Solarstrike, a multi-agency investigation that included the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (QJOCTF) and the Australian Border Force’s (ABF) Maritime Border Command.
Authorities had been tracking the 42-year-old and an accomplice, now 59, in July 2018 as they travelled about 300km offshore in a high-powered inflatable boat to collect packages of cocaine that had been dropped in the ocean from a larger ship.
A Royal Australian Navy (RAN) vessel tried unsuccessfully to intercept the inflatable boat as it returned to Queensland via northern NSW.
As the two men tried to evade authorities, they threw packages overboard, but the RAN recovered a total of 588kg of cocaine from the ocean. This amount of cocaine could have been sold as an estimated 2.94 million street deals, worth an estimated $147 million.
The men were arrested by the Queensland Water Police when they returned to Australian waters.
The 48-year-year old was arrested in June 2019 over the import.
QJOCTF charged the trio with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The 59-year-old pleaded guilty in 2020 and was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of four years and three months.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said the AFP and its partners were determined to stop illicit substances from entering the country.
“Criminals will go to great lengths to smuggle drugs into Australia, with no regard to the harm they cause to Australian communities,” Det-Supt Telfer said.
“Operation Solarstrike spared Australians from the violence, addiction and further criminality this shipment of cocaine would have brought to our shores.”
Queensland Police Service Detective Acting Superintendent David Briese, from the Drug and Serious Crime Group, Crime and Intelligence Command, said Operation Solarstrike was a multi-agency success.
“This outcome is a testament to the coordination and engagement between state and federal law enforcement agencies, who continue to work together through the targeting of those individuals who would seek to cause harm to the community via the illicit drug market,” A/Det-Supt Briese said.
Commander Maritime Border Command (MBC) Rear Admiral Brett Sonter said this matter served as a timely reminder of MBC’s capabilities.
“This successful operation shows the strength of MBC’s ongoing partnership with our federal and state and territory counterparts to protect Australia’s border,” Rear Admiral Sonter said.
“MBC remains poised to respond, and this outcome sends a clear message to would-be criminals: do not attempt to exploit Australia’s border. Your efforts will be detected and you can expect to face the full force of the law.”
QJOCTF comprises the AFP, the ABF, the Queensland Police Service, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and AUSTRAC.
