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The murder of a Sydney gang leader outside a Ho Chi Minh City restaurant is linked to the seizure of almost 400 kilograms of methamphetamine last month, police believe, as law enforcement agencies investigate if an Australian expat accused of heading a global crime syndicate was involved in the brazen killing.
Authorities are yet to establish who ordered the killing of senior Coconut Cartel member Lorenzo Lemalu in Vietnam last week, but they are exploring the possibility that wanted drug kingpin Daniel Rodney Badger had played a role in the 24-year-old’s murder.
This masthead can reveal that detectives investigating the cartel believe Lemalu’s death was linked to the April seizure by police of 390 kilograms of methamphetamine in Sydney and the subsequent dismantling of the Coconut Cartel, which has for months been locked in a violent conflict with the Alameddine crime family.
Investigations are exploring whether Lemalu’s killing was ordered in reprisal for the cartel losing the shipment – worth about $120 million – before it could be trafficked.
“It is evidently clear the violence on our streets is intrinsically linked to what we are seeing unfold overseas, including in locations such as Vietnam,” NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Scott Cook said on Thursday.
Badger, 40, one of the Australian authorities’ highest-priority overseas targets, and another senior Coconut Cartel member, Anthony Pele, are suspected of co-ordinating several large-scale drug imports into Australia together, according to law enforcement sources familiar with investigations into the pair but unwilling to comment publicly due to the sensitive nature of ongoing operations. Law enforcement intelligence shared with this masthead suggests Badger and Pele have been associates for several years.
Lemalu, who died after being shot several times at close range with what Vietnamese police described as a military-style firearm on May 21, had been directing the cartel’s activities from abroad along with several associates, including Pele, since fleeing Australia. It is unclear if Pele, who paid tribute to Lemalu on social media last week, is also a target.
The cartel is believed to have co-ordinated several large-scale drug imports in the past 18 months, some of which have been carried out with Badger’s syndicate, dubbed the Badger Organised Crime Network, according to several law enforcement sources familiar with the groups’ activities.
NSW Police this week executed the final stage of a months-long investigation into the Coconut Cartel – Strike Force Golporta – arresting several alleged cartel associates accused of helping the group carry out large-scale drug imports.
The cartel’s alleged Australian leader, Henry Kupa, was arrested and charged with supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug hours after detectives seized the 390 kilograms of methamphetamine at an Emu Plains property on April 28.
Police say the 27-year-old was the Coconut Cartel’s most senior member in Australia and reported directly to Pele, who remains wanted by NSW Police and has been regularly moving across the globe since leaving the country several years ago. He is believed to be based in South-East Asia.
On Monday, Vietnamese police arrested two Samoan men, Joseph Vaa and Steve Tofa, over Lemalu’s murder. The pair allegedly told police they had flown to Vietnam to assassinate Lemalu, whose surname is also spelled Laemalu, and an associate, Sam Sauni, after being contracted by an overseas employer. Sauni survived a single gunshot wound and is receiving treatment in Vietnam.
Members of the Alameddine network appeared to claim credit for the killing, but detectives who have long investigated the under-siege family are sceptical it has the reach or resources to orchestrate a sophisticated offshore assassination, as several senior members are in hiding in the Middle East or in custody.
Law enforcement intelligence suggests tensions between Badger’s syndicate and rival organised crime groups over control of Australia’s lucrative drug trade, including oversupply, distribution and profits, escalated this year. Conflict within Badger’s syndicate has also been growing and is believed to have been the catalyst for retribution against members who have fallen foul of the network.
Badger, who is alleged to be one of the biggest importers of illicit drugs into Australia, has been based in South-East Asia since relocating from western Sydney a decade ago. He wields significant influence in the region, which has long been the main source of illicit drugs imported into the country. He was married in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019.
The syndicate, which spans several continents, is alleged to have expanded into manufacturing and importing large amounts of cocaine and heroin. It has local operations stretching along Australia’s east coast.
Detectives have linked the Coconut Cartel to Badger through a number of violent incidents in Sydney, including a foiled alleged plot to assassinate a syndicate member who had fallen foul of the kingpin, outside a Revesby day care centre.
A little-known group linked to the alleged plot at the time, The Final Crime Family, was believed to be working under the direction of Badger’s syndicate.
That group has since rebranded as the Coconut Cartel, according to several law enforcement sources familiar with investigations into the group. The cartel has rebranded several times this year in an attempt to gain notoriety, briefly adopting several other names, including the “Lone Wolves”, during sustained attacks on the Alameddine network.
Australian authorities have been actively pursuing Badger under a secretive multi-agency operation called Strike Force Dakota after linking him to several violent incidents across the country, including the abduction and murder of Sydney woman Thi Kim Tran, whose husband was working for the Badger syndicate as a methamphetamine cook and who had been accused of stealing from his employers.
The investigation, which is being co-ordinated by organised crime squad detectives, is one of NSW Police’s largest efforts to apprehend an overseas target. It comprises officers from the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and international law enforcement agencies. Badger has been one of the AFP’s highest-priority targets for several years.
Organised crime squad detectives led Strike Force Golporta, which shared intelligence with other active investigations focused on the Coconut Cartel’s conflict with the Alameddine network. Other investigations, including those targeting South-East Asian organised crime groups, have shared intelligence with detectives pursuing cartel members linked to the groups.
While Australian authorities are not investigating the shooting itself, NSW Police and the AFP are sharing intelligence with Vietnamese counterparts and other agencies.
Police are bracing for the fallout of Lemalu’s killing and the dismantling of the Coconut Cartel, which is expected to have ramifications across Australia’s criminal landscape as rival groups compete for control of the country’s drug trade.
“We’re slightly ahead of the game, and we’re hoping that, because of what we now know out of this investigation, we can prevent violence occurring here,” Cook said.
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