Australian Federal Police

A New South Wales man, 28, has been charged over his alleged role in a plot to import an estimated $29 million worth of methamphetamine into Australia from the United States. An AFP investigation into the importation commenced in October 2023 after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alerted the AFP to a consignment destined for Sydney allegedly containing 32kg of methamphetamine. Authorities removed the drugs from the consignment before they were shipped to Australia. The Ashcroft man was allegedly observed receiving the shipment and inspecting its contents before departing a New South Wales property. AFP officers executed a search warrant at the property in Ashcroft where investigators seized three mobile phones alongside a small bag containing a white unidentified substance. The man faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

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The AFP’s Solomons’ International Assistance Force (SIAF) contingent has returned to Australia after almost three years of supporting Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) operations. The SIAF was established after AFP and the Defence Australia responded within 24 hours to Solomon Islands’ call for support in November 2021 to help the RSIPF restore calm in Honiara following civil unrest. SIAF members were involved in operational planning, joint patrols, community engagement activities supporting the response and capability of the RSIPF. A significant achievement of the SIAF was the support provided to the RSIPF for the successful delivery of the 2023 Pacific Games and 2024 Joint Elections, with dozens more additional AFP members deployed to assist on the ground for each event. The AFP is proud to have worked alongside and supported the RSIPF to provide a safe and secure environment for the people of Solomon Islands over the last three years. AFP members will remain on the ground in Honiara to continue to build upon the great work being undertaken by the well-established RSIPF-AFP Policing Partnership Program to boost the RSIPF’s capability through mentoring and training.

Winter’s over but we found snow in Queensland. The AFP has charged two men with allegedly possessing 110kg of cocaine in Far North Queensland. The men were arrested yesterday after they travelled to Seisia, on the Cape York Peninsula. The duo were allegedly spotted removing polystyrene boxes from a small boat and loading them into a car. Police intercepted the car and searched the boxes before allegedly locating 110 packages containing a white substance, which later tested positive for cocaine. This amount of cocaine has an estimated street value of $44 million. The men were taken into custody and were flown to Cairns with the assistance of the Queensland Police Service Air Wing.

The AFP has joined its law enforcement counterparts in Papua New Guinea at the opening of the PNG-Australia Policing Partnership office in Mt Hagen. AFP members at the Mt Hagen office will work with the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) to deliver equipment, assets and training that will help PNG develop a world-class police force. As PNG’s primary security partner, the AFP and RPNGC have a long history of working together to ensure safety and prosperity across the region. The AFP has three other Posts in Papua New Guinea; in Port Moresby, Lae and Kokopo and the opening of the Mt Hagen office will further solidify the AFP’s strong relationship with the RPNGC.

More than 1800 financial accounts linked to criminals have been shut down as sextortion reports decline, but concerns children are being blackmailed remain. Reports of sextortion to the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) have dropped significantly with an average of 93 reports a month in 2024, compared to an average of 300 reports a month in 2023. Sextortion is a form of online blackmail where offenders trick or coerce someone into sending sexual images of themselves, before threatening to share the images unless their demands are met. These demands could be for money, gift cards or more graphic content. Since 2022, the AFP and AUSTRAC, working with the financial sector, have facilitated the shutdown of more than 1800 Australian bank, financial services and digital currency accounts linked to offshore organised criminals sexually extorting Australian teenagers. Police believe the combined efforts of law enforcement and public awareness, are likely making it harder for criminals to exploit children online. Parents and carers are encouraged to regularly talk to your child about online safety, know the warning signs of sextortion and know what to do if your child is a victim. You can find this information in the comments.

The AFP has officers based offshore collaborating and sharing intelligence with foreign law enforcement partners to tackle global threats and protect the Australian community from afar. More than 200 members are deployed across the world, at Posts in every continent except Antarctica, to combat crimes such as drug trafficking, human exploitation, people smuggling, money laundering and terrorism. The AFP has a presence in 35 countries, through 36 separate bases from Bogota to Beijing, as well as eight police development partnerships in the Pacific region. Criminals cause harm to our national security, financial systems and our busy hospitals in our suburbs. They have a negative impact in every community in which they operate, which is why it is so important for law enforcement agencies to work together to combat them.

Two Romanian nationals living in Sydney have been jailed for their roles in a $36,000 ATM card scam thanks to an investigation by the AFP-led Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre (JPC3). The man, 34, and the woman, 33, were sentenced to four years and two years respectively. The offenders stole funds by installing ATM shimmers on ATMs across Sydney and Melbourne to clone the financial data of victims using the machines. ATM shimmers are thin, card-sized metal devices that act like a spacer when inserted into the card slot of an ATM. The devices are designed to record the data on the card magnetic stripe and chip, which can then be accessed later by the offender when the shimmer is retrieved. Both the man and the woman are expected to be deported once released from jail.

⚠️ Content warning A Tasmanian man has been jailed for 12 years over 55 child abuse-related charges, with offences including the planning, procurement and abuse of children overseas. The investigation began after the AFP received reports from the United States’ National Center for Missing & Exploited Children regarding an online user sending child abuse material via social media. In March 2018, the man, 39, attempted to travel to Indonesia, triggering an alert by the Australian Border Force. He was refused entry and was arrested and charged by AFP officers later that month. The AFP, together with its law enforcement partners, work tirelessly to protect children no matter where they live and will continue to relentlessly pursue anyone involved in the exploitation or abuse of children.

The AFP is celebrating the 20-year anniversary of our presence in Bali, and we proudly recognise two decades’ service to building and enhancing cooperation with the Indonesian National Police. The AFP’s Bali Post was established in 2004, less than two years after the Bali Bombings, to build on our mutual cooperation and response to the threats of terrorism, people smuggling, human trafficking, child exploitation, cybercrime and organised crime. The partnership with the Indonesian National Police has grown stronger and stronger and we thank them for their service and commitment to working together. Members posted to Bali over the years have reflected positively on the cooperation with our Indonesian law enforcement colleagues and building our collective knowledge through shared experience to keep our two countries safe. Our objective remains to work with our Indonesian law enforcement colleagues to harden the environment for transnational crime, and to reduce harm to our nations and the region. But we cannot do this on our own. The AFP is grateful for our strong partnerships with our Indonesian law enforcement colleagues. We express our gratitude to the Balinese people for the friendship and support to our staff and their families living here in Bali.