Acquittals in Hong Kong drug mule case put spotlight on international cooperation
Police and customs authorities from mainland China and Hong Kong have become key partners of the Australian authorities as they battle the scourge of Ice down-under.
But yesterday's acquittal of six coached and tricked "drug mules" will turn the spotlight on a secretive joint operation codenamed Breaking Cocoon involving Hong Kong Customs, the Australian Federal Police and United States Immigration Customs Enforcement - which ironically uses the acronym ICE. Working on information from overseas partners, Hong Kong Customs arrested ten travellers, as they were leaving the SAR. Each had a secret stash of crystal methamphetamine in their luggage.
Throughout their subsequent ordeal, they maintained their innocence and said they knew nothing about the drugs in their bags which had been given to them just before they were due to board flights to Australia or New Zealand.
Despite details of their involvement in Cocoon being revealed in court documents, Australian Federal Police deny any involvement in the operation and declined questions put by the .
The agency, however, did acknowledge it is losing a battle with global drug syndicates who are increasingly targeting vulnerable elderly people.
"Despite previous warnings, the AFP and its partner agencies are continuing to see an increase in members of the travelling public falling victim to travel scams," a spokeswoman said.
"The AFP understands these scams are targeting and exploiting predominantly vulnerable people, including the elderly, through various financial scams. They groom them over many months convincing them to travel overseas and return to Australia with additional luggage pieces or gifts, which when examined by authorities are found to contain drugs."
From October 2013 to 16 September this year, 39 illicit drug couriers have been arrested at Australian airports after being allegedly exploited by criminal syndicates.
Watch: Alleged drug smugglers cleared of charges in Hong Kong
Of these, one was not charged; seven had their charges withdrawn; 10 have been convicted; nine have been found not guilty at trial; and 12 are currently before court.
In August, the Australian Crime Commission - a national body that has investigative powers above federal and state agencies - earmarked AU$5 million over four years to send transnational crime analysts to organised crime and drug importation hotspots.
Hong Kong was the top priority with an analyst deployed in August while analysts to the US, Canada and Dubai have not yet been sent.
Each location was chosen because they are "crime and drug importation hotspots", according to the Australian government.
The newly-created post in Hong Kong will join a team of AFP officers that has been regularly posted in Hong Kong since 1984 and in Beijing since 1999. In 2007, the AFP set up a new post in Guangzhou, which it claims was the first foreign law enforcement agency to be stationed in the city.
This intensified regional cooperation is aimed at dismantling the criminal networks behind the "manufacture and movement of illicit substances such as methamphetamine and its associated precursors" to Australia, the AFP spokeswoman said.
"The AFP is committed to working in tandem with Chinese law enforcement agencies to achieve a range of investigative, intelligence and capacity building outcomes," she added.
A spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the US said it engaged in "routine and robust collaboration with Hong Kong law enforcement".
