A 66-year-old Chinese-British dual national has been extradited to Australia to face charges of drug trafficking into Australia.
Australian Federal Police officers with assistance from the Royal Thai Police extradited the man from Bangkok to Melbourne on the 11th of June 2022. His extradition comes as part of a long-running investigation into a large transnational organised crime syndicate.
Thai Police arrested the man in his Bangkok apartment on the 1st October 2022, executing a provisional arrest warrant issued in Thailand, based on the charges laid in Australia.
It is alleged that the man is a senior criminal associate of the syndicate’s head, and the AFP will allege the man was part of a conspiracy to traffic five separate qualities of methamphetamine or the derivatives of the drug totalling 40kg over a period of twelve months.
The man appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday afternoon to face a charge of conspiracy to traffic a commercial quantity of a controlled drug, contrary to subsection 11.5(1) and subsection 302.2(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth). The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Krissy Barrett spoke about the arrest and extradition.
“The Australian Federal Police has an international network of partners committed to pursuing transnational organised crime offenders and bringing them to justice. If you commit an offence, there is nowhere to hide, and the AFP will track you down,” Assistant Commissioner Barrett said.
“The extradition of someone we allege to be high on the pecking order of this serious criminal syndicate is a significant milestone for the AFP. It shows that the AFP and its partners remain one step ahead in working tirelessly to keep our community safe.”
