Part of the drugs haul for which the mother and son were sentenced. Photo credit: Australian Federal Police
A mother and son criminal duo will spend at least the next 6-7 years behind bars after being convicted for dealing in drugs by a Melbourne court.
They were convicted for supplying and trafficking a commercial quantity of methamphetamine as part of a criminal syndicate and were sentenced before the Melbourne County Court.
The son, a 28-year-old from Sunshine North, was charged with a string of serious illicit drug offences, including trafficking illicit drugs and dealing with the proceeds of crime. He was handed a jail term of 12 years with a non-parole period of six years.
His mom, a 57-year-old from Deer Park, was charged with trafficking one kilogram of methamphetamine and was given a 10-year jail term with a non-parole period of seven years.
The pair were charged after a multi-agency law enforcement operation known as Operation Sunrise, an investigation into a large-scale heroin syndicate believed responsible for the importation of an estimated $20-million dollars’ worth of illicit drugs using international airline cabin crew.
According to authorities, the syndicate operated in Melbourne in 2018.
The Victoria Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF) – comprising Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Victoria Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission – launched enquiries into the pair in December 2018 as part of a wider investigation into the syndicate.
The JOCTF arrested the woman at her home on 8 March 2019, after she facilitated the sale of a kilogram of methamphetamine to a co-accused, which was then delivered by her son on 12 December, 2018.
Officers arrested the son on 8 January, 2019, after he delivered his mother’s methamphetamine consignment to a co-accused, while also providing an additional five kilograms of methamphetamine to the same co-accused.
Last month the JOCTF arrested three Melbourne men and seized around 100 kilograms of methamphetamine worth an estimated $52.5million.
Officers found several barrels of liquid methamphetamine and what investigators say were “significant precursor chemicals”, indicating that a large-scale clandestine drug laboratory was under construction.