The Sydney District Court today sentenced two men to a combined 17.5 years imprisonment over a 2018 seizure of almost 115 kilograms of cocaine.
AFP investigators began Operation Razorclaw in July 2018, after identifying a suspected drug smuggling syndicate operating in NSW.
On 11 October 2018, the AFP arrested a 43-year-old Burwood man in Leppington – in southwest Sydney – locating 56.49 kilograms of cocaine in his vehicle. The AFP also found an encrypted mobile phone during a search of the vehicle.
On the same day, the AFP attended a semi-rural property in Austral, arresting a 32-year-old Maroubra man.
A search of the Austral property uncovered a further 58.41 kilograms of cocaine – hidden inside a generator imported into Australia from South Africa – as well as another encrypted mobile phone.
The total amount of cocaine seized during Operation Razorclaw is worth an estimated street value of $115 million dollars.
Both men were charged with possessing commercial quantities of border-controlled drugs reasonably suspected of having been unlawfully imported, contrary to section 307.8 of the Criminal Code (Cth).
The 43-year-old Burwood man received a maximum sentence of eight years, six months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years and nine months. He will be eligible for parole in July 2023.
The 32-year-old Maroubra man received a maximum sentence of nine years imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years. He will be eligible for parole in October 2023.
