Two Americans Linked to Mexican Cartels Arrested for Trafficking Meth in Australia

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has charged three men in Sydney as part of an international investigation into a Mexican organized crime syndicate suspected of importing hundreds of kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

Operation Eldia began in May 2022, after several shipments of methamphetamine hidden in plastic pallets carrying various commodities as well as shipments of methamphetamine and cocaine hidden in electrical transformers were seized in Los Angeles, Sydney, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.

A key breakthrough in the investigation occurred in February 2023, when CBP officers found more than 85 kilos of methamphetamine hidden inside 13 plastic pallets in Los Angeles, California.

Operation Eldia

The AFP worked closely with the Australian Border Force (ABF), Department of Home Affairs, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Canberra to identify and disrupt the drug trafficking network of the organized crime syndicate.

It is alleged 375 kilos of methamphetamine from 5 consignments seized by the AFP and its partners in Sydney and Los Angeles between April 2022, and February 2023, were sent from Los Angeles by this syndicate. Another 447 kilos of liquid methamphetamine and 120 kilos of cocaine hidden in shipments of electrical transformers and organized by this syndicate were seized in Hong Kong in February and March 2022, while a further 106 kilos were seized in New Zealand in February 2019.

These shipments were suspected to have been destined for distribution in Australia.

The large methamphetamine seizure in Los Angeles, which has an estimated Australian street value of more than $76 million, was reported to the AFP for investigation. The methamphetamine was removed in Los Angeles and the plastic pallets were then delivered to Australia.

 
On their arrival in Sydney, AFP officers reconstructed the plastic pallets with an inert substance and conducted a controlled delivery in Sydney, its intended destination. The AFP alleges two US nationals, aged 42 and 34, arrived in Sydney in April 2023, from Fiji and the United States to facilitate the importation.

A Sydney man, 40, was the alleged Australian-based contact for the syndicate and the director of a fruit and groceries company operating in the Hornsby area of Sydney. The 42-year-old American man was the principal organizer of the importation, while the other US man allegedly organized the logistics in Australia, such as renting a storage unit, transporting the pallets, and purchasing tools and scales.

The AFP delivered the plastic pallets to a storage facility in the southwestern Sydney suburb of Bexley on April 26, 2023. It is alleged the three men later transferred the pallets to a different storage facility in Pymble, on Sydney’s north shore.\

On April 27, 2023, the US nationals were allegedly seen removing dismantled pallets and garbage bags containing unknown items from the storage unit.

The AFP executed a search warrant at a unit in the Sydney suburb of Marsden Park later that day, where the US nationals were allegedly residing.

Police seized garbage bags allegedly containing the reconstructed packages of substituted drugs from the plastic pallets, and a mobile phone allegedly containing photos of the reconstructed pallets and glass beakers with an unknown liquid substance.

The US men were arrested and charged with one count each of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, namely methamphetamine. The maximum penalty for this offense in Australia is 25 years imprisonment.

The AFP executed a further search warrant on May 1, 2023, at a home in Newtown, linked to the Sydney man. Police seized a padlock and keys for a storage unit and electronic devices for further examination. The Sydney man was arrested and charged with the same offense as the US nationals.

“The relationship the AFP shares with its international law enforcement partners was crucial to obtaining and analyzing the intelligence that directly resulted in the seizure of 375 kilos of illicit drugs around the world,” she said.

“The arrest of three people here in Australia and their connection to a wider Mexican-based cartel gives us valuable insight into the operations of organized crime groups and will help us and our partners create a hostile environment for them to operate in.” HSI Regional Attaché Ernest Verina said, “the international reach of organized crime is dismantled by global law enforcement partnerships like the one between the United States and Australia.”


Source AFP, South China Post