BN- Police have seized a plane laden with drugs and arrested 11 people in a huge cross-border operation targeting bikie-linked criminals....
BN- Police have seized a plane laden with drugs and arrested 11 people in a huge cross-border operation targeting bikie-linked criminals.
The pilot of a light aircraft carrying 45kg of cannabis and other drugs was arrested when it landed in the NSW town of Deniliquin, close to the Victorian border on Wednesday afternoon, police say.
Police allege affiliates of the Descendants and Hells Angels bikie gangs in South Australia have been smuggling commercial quantities of drugs and firearms into NSW, and the plane was part of that operation.
Search warrants were executed simultaneously in Hay, 120km north of Deniliquin, nine properties in Adelaide, and a number of properties on Queensland’s Gold Coast and in Brisbane.
“What we’re seeing today is a culmination of about six months’ work,” Detective Inspector Gavin Wood said.
“It’s a great result (that shows) all police forces working collectively together, can produce great results.”
The 67-year-old pilot, from Queensland, has been charged with supplying commercial quantities of drugs. He is set to face Deniliquin local court on Thursday.
Ten other men were arrested in NSW and SA.
“There’s still a number of outstanding offenders we need to speak to both in SA, Queensland and NSW,” Det Insp Wood said.
“The matter is ongoing.”
The cross-border operation stemmed from the work of a strike force set up in January to investigate the supply of illegal firearms in the Hay area of NSW.
Over the past eight months, police have seized 38 guns, 100 ecstasy pills and small amount of ice, and also uncovered links to bikie gang activity in South Australia.
Meanwhile, police found another 30kg of cocaine with a street value of up to $30m inside a yacht that docked on the Gold Coast.
A total of 100kg of cocaine worth up to $100m has been uncovered from the yacht Solay after it docked at Coomera earlier this month, having travelled from South America via Vanuatu.
“I am very pleased for the parents of our state, for the parents of our country, that we’ve been able to take these drugs away from kids that otherwise might have been dealt these drugs by motorcycle gangs and others,” border protection minister Peter Dutton said in Brisbane.
The pilot of a light aircraft carrying 45kg of cannabis and other drugs was arrested when it landed in the NSW town of Deniliquin, close to the Victorian border on Wednesday afternoon, police say.
Police allege affiliates of the Descendants and Hells Angels bikie gangs in South Australia have been smuggling commercial quantities of drugs and firearms into NSW, and the plane was part of that operation.
Search warrants were executed simultaneously in Hay, 120km north of Deniliquin, nine properties in Adelaide, and a number of properties on Queensland’s Gold Coast and in Brisbane.
“What we’re seeing today is a culmination of about six months’ work,” Detective Inspector Gavin Wood said.
“It’s a great result (that shows) all police forces working collectively together, can produce great results.”
The 67-year-old pilot, from Queensland, has been charged with supplying commercial quantities of drugs. He is set to face Deniliquin local court on Thursday.
Ten other men were arrested in NSW and SA.
“There’s still a number of outstanding offenders we need to speak to both in SA, Queensland and NSW,” Det Insp Wood said.
“The matter is ongoing.”
The cross-border operation stemmed from the work of a strike force set up in January to investigate the supply of illegal firearms in the Hay area of NSW.
Over the past eight months, police have seized 38 guns, 100 ecstasy pills and small amount of ice, and also uncovered links to bikie gang activity in South Australia.
Meanwhile, police found another 30kg of cocaine with a street value of up to $30m inside a yacht that docked on the Gold Coast.
A total of 100kg of cocaine worth up to $100m has been uncovered from the yacht Solay after it docked at Coomera earlier this month, having travelled from South America via Vanuatu.
“I am very pleased for the parents of our state, for the parents of our country, that we’ve been able to take these drugs away from kids that otherwise might have been dealt these drugs by motorcycle gangs and others,” border protection minister Peter Dutton said in Brisbane.
More: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/sep/03/nsw-police-seize-drug-laden-plane-and-arrest-11-in-bikie-related-operation