Mexico to WA: Couriers sentenced for massive 1.2 tonne cocaine conspiracy

1 week ago 7

Six men have been sentenced over the attempted importation of 1.2 tonnes of cocaine that was shipped from Mexico to WA shores in 2022, with their bungled and “comical” attempts to retrieve it played out in front of a Perth court.

Filipe Valesu, Reremoana-Kahui Patrick Stanley, William Seru, Laban Joshua Toga Saininaivalu, Issac Henry Rabuatoka and Paul Anthony Masterson were recruited last minute to help bring ashore the drugs that were dropped 40 nautical miles off the coast of WA in December of that year.

At the time it was the largest drug bust in Australian history and was part of an even bigger interception of around a billion dollars worth of cocaine that was destined for our shores.

However, the US Coast Guard notified WA Police of the import before the men, described as low level ‘couriers’, could get their hands on the drugs, and officers set about organising a sting to catch them.

They replaced the drugs with a fake product of similar weight, and set up surveillance equipment before watching what was labelled in Perth’s District Court on Friday “a comedy of errors”.

The men made multiple bungled attempts to try and retrieve what they thought were the drugs, including multiple trips out to sea - hunting for the loot.

Once they did retrieve the fake product from the ocean, it weighed down a small boat so heavily that it ran aground at the Moore River head, prompting members of the public to offer assistance.

A covert police officer was sitting nearby and filmed the entire incident.

They were then arrested.

Prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski said the bungled operation demonstrated that the men were clearly inexperienced in drug handling.

“This is the parasitic nature of these cartels … they use what are otherwise good people in desperate times to do their dirty work,” he said.

A man is arrested by WA Police as part of a seizure of drugs being imported into Australia,

“$75,000 might sound like a lot but when you’re facing a decade in custody it’s significant. They use these men as puppets. They don’t take any of the risks because they are so far removed from the offending.”

In sentencing the men, judge Linda Black told them they were all in well over their heads and were “foolish” for hoping for such small rewards out of such risky behaviour.

“The value of the drug operation meant that if the drugs, just the ones that came to WA - if they had been sold by the kilo would have been worth $300 million,” Black said.

“Now think about what each of you were going to get out of this and understand yourselves how foolish you were. You risked your family, yourselves and your liberty for so little.”

Valesu was sentenced to 11 years, Rabuatoka and Masterson to 10 years, Stanley to eight years, Seru to six years and Saininaivalu to five years.

Their sentences were backdated for time spent in custody and they were all made eligible for parole.

Three other men were previously sentenced over the incident.

Outside of court, senior sergeant Steve Cartel said bringing the men to justice involved over 200 officers and staff and multiple jurisdictions including some from overseas.

“Make no mistake, this was not a seizure at the border for a photo opportunity,” he said.

“This was a protracted, sophisticated and highly complex police investigation they’ve ensured, and it did two things; one, it allowed us to present the evidence we have at court today, but it also allowed us to generate a significant amount of intelligence on these organisations that we continue to use today.”

He said the sentences the men received should be a warning to others lured by money to help bring drugs into the country.

“This should be a very clear message to everyone that our zero tolerance approach to prohibited drugs, we’ll continue to make Western Australia a hostile environment for drugs and anybody who considers WA to be a lucrative market,” he said.

“And we won’t stop at this. We’ll continue working with our national and international counterparts to disrupt any drug distribution activity.”