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An ATR 72 aircraft of Malindo Air landing at the Langkawi International Airport. Photo: Alamy

Malaysian airline cabin crew member arrested for bringing 14kg of drugs into Australia

  • The cabin crew member was part of a group that brought heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines from Malaysia on aircraft for sale in Australian cities
  • Australia, which has one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of methamphetamine use, is a lucrative market for suppliers of drugs from Southeast Asia
Malaysia

An employee of a Malaysian airline was among eight people arrested in Australia on charges of trafficking more than 14kg of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines, Australian authorities said on Wednesday.

The suspect worked for Malindo Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s Lion Air, which said the crew member had been suspended with immediate effect pending termination.

“Malindo Air stands ready to co-operate with all the relevant authorities be it in Australia or in Malaysia in this regard,” it said.

The 38-year-old airline crew member was part of a group that brought drugs from Malaysia for sale in Australian cities, police and customs officials said in a statement.

Seized drugs and money are seen at the Australia Federal Police headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 January 2019. Photo: EPA

The gang, which police believe was run by a Vietnamese crime syndicate, was based in Melbourne, said Tess Walsh, Victoria State police crime command assistant commissioner. “Intelligence would tell us that this crew has been operating for some years. I would say five plus.”

Police seized 6kg of heroin, 8kg of methamphetamines, 500g of cocaine, along with a “significant quantity” of cash and a Porsche Macan SUV and Mini Cooper car.

Seized drugs and money are seen at the Australia Federal Police headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 16 January 2019. Photo: EPA

“The amount of heroin alone involved in this investigation amounts to almost fifty thousand hits in real terms,” said Walsh.

Police said they had made the eight arrests over the past 10 days, detaining four women and four men aged between 26 and 55 in and around Melbourne.

They appeared in court on Wednesday on drug trafficking charges. No pleas were entered and they will next appear on May 15.

Australia is a lucrative market for suppliers of drugs from Southeast Asia. It has one of the world’s highest per-capita rates of methamphetamine use, government statistics show.

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The country has been struggling to contain a sharp increase in drug-related deaths in recent years. While most of those deaths were connected to overdoses of prescription drugs, a growing number of fatalities has been blamed on smuggled substances entering the country on ships or planes.

In a recent study, the Rand Europe research institute estimated that Australia accounted for about 11 per cent of global darknet sales of illicit drugs.

Darknet sales only represent a fraction of overall consumption, but other studies have similarly found that Australia’s illicit drug consumption is above global levels. While illicit drug use caused 1.8 per cent of all injuries in Australia by 2011, the global average stood at only 0.8 per cent, according to the Australian Institute for Health and Welfare. Since then, government authorities have reported further increases in drug consumption.

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By 2013, almost 3 million Australians were believed to have used illicit drugs within one year, which amounts to about 8 per cent of the population.

While prices for illegal substances may be higher in Australia than in most other countries, authorities have been concerned over their easy availability in major cities.

This month’s drug raids across the country appear to have been part of a broader crackdown to combat drug use, even though researchers caution that a broader approach – including better mental health care and more prevention trainings – is needed to successfully lower consumption rates.

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