Striking down illegal imports

Victoria’s borders have spent the past year firmly in the spotlight due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but for the Trident Taskforce, an intense focus on activity at Victoria’s boundaries is nothing new.

While Australia’s borders have been essentially shut to overseas visitors for the past 18 months, international shipping has been permitted and Victoria’s port facilities have remained open. In the criminal underworld, the open channels can be seen as a green light for illegal activities to continue — namely the importation of illicit drugs and illegal goods.

And that’s where the Trident Taskforce comes in.

A Victoria Police-led multi-agency partnership with the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Department of Home Affairs (DHA), the taskforce investigates organised crime and works to identify vulnerabilities within port facilities and maritime activity.

While it’s an around-the-clock job, the annual, multi-agency Operation Crossway is where the Trident Taskforce really makes its presence felt.

Victoria’s port facilities, and the precincts that surround them, come under the operation’s microscope, with Trident teams deploying to the sites constantly, looking for signs they’ve been exposed to criminal activity.

This year, the south-west city of Portland was in the crosshairs of Crossways.

As one of Victoria’s major shipping hubs, the Port of Portland is a large 75-hectare site.

Every year it welcomes more than 300 ships carrying in excess of 7.5 million tonnes of goods, along with 150,000 trucks coming and going from the facility.

“As a regional facility located more than 350 kilometres from Melbourne, the biggest challenge we face in policing is the tyranny of distance,” Trident Taskforce Detective Senior Sergeant Matthew Kroenert said.

“It’s a facility that sits very close to the general community and as an open goods port, there is a lot of walk-off activity. So we take a very proactive approach in Portland.”

During Crossways that approach can only be described as all-hands-on-deck.

With the ABF, DHA, National Heavy Vehicle Regulator, Victorian Fisheries Authority and Maritime Safety Victoria personnel combining with Victoria Police, about 100 officers descended on Portland for the three-day operation.

Among them were officers from the local Portland Police Station and members of the Trident Taskforce, Crime Intelligence Group, Divisional Response Unit, Public Order Response Team (PORT), Heavy Vehicle Intelligence Unit (HVIU), Water Police, and the State Highway Patrol.

“The operation sees the Trident Taskforce utilise the resources of many other units to great value,” Leading Senior Constable Steve Stewart said.

“The PORT team is there for an evidence gathering purpose and can livestream activities, such as searches, back to our command centre.

The State Highway Patrol use its Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) system to check all vehicles coming and going from the facility.

We can also provide them with ‘watch lists’, so we are alerted if any vehicles registered or linked to known offenders are coming into the port.

“With the HVIU checking that attending trucks are meeting all compliance needs and the Water Police checking the same for both recreational fishing and international shipping vessels, the operation contributes to both the road policing and maritime safety efforts as well.”

In total, more than 800 vehicles and 30 vessels were inspected during the operation, along with 4000 vehicle registrations, resulting in more than 50 infringements being issued and 14 charges being laid.

On top of these results, Operation Crossway gathers valuable information for future investigations, according to Taskforce Trident Inspector Craig Darlow.

“Through this operation, the Trident Taskforce has been able to identify quite a considerable amount of people with criminal backgrounds visiting or working in and around the port environments," Insp Darlow said.

“This includes a significant amount of outlaw motorcycle gang members, Middle Eastern organised crime identities and others.

“The advantage of operations like this is that we know people don’t go to the port areas without a purpose. It’s very unlikely you’d go into these environments with no reason, so we try and work out why these people are there and then we investigate what connections they may have to port workers or companies. That’s how we identify risks and vulnerabilities.”

Away from the enforcement and intelligence gathering benefits, Operation Crossway is a chance for the Trident Taskforce to be seen.

“It’s a high visibility operation that we want people to know is being carried out,” Insp Darlow said.

“We want people in the shipping industry, locals who live in the areas around the ports and members of organised crime to know that there is every chance police will be running an operation at any time at any port in Victoria, and there is every chance you will be caught if you want to use these facilities for illegal purposes.”

And Trident Taskforce's net doesn’t stop at the border. Even though an illegal importation might make its way to dry land, Trident investigators continue their chase.

In late July this year, Victoria Police, the AFP and ABF personnel uncovered 600kg of the border-controlled substance Gamma Butyrolactone hidden inside an incoming sea cargo consignment.

Two further attempted imports of 1,4 Butanediol were also detected by Australian Border Force as part of the investigation and seized. The chemicals are valued at more than $700,000.

Investigators executed a search warrant in North Melbourne and arrested a 28-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman.

Further search warrants were subsequently executed in Sunshine and Pascoe Vale uncovered two firearms, cash, drugs, precursor chemicals and laboratory equipment.

The man and woman were charged with a number of state and Commonwealth offences, including import border-controlled drug, attempt to possess commercial quantity of border-controlled drug, and attempt to possess drug of dependence — large commercial quantity.

“Our ports are the first line of defence, but our work continues well beyond them,” Det Sen Sgt Kroenert said.

“It can be hard to put an exact measurement on the impact that is made by stopping these types of substances from entering the community, but the damage they can do in the community is extensive.

“Because of that, the community can be reassured that Trident Taskforce is doing its best to disrupt supply chains of drugs and illegal goods, and our efforts are deterring others from committing the same kind of offending.”

Editorial: Grant Condon

Photography: Ldg Sen Const Steve Stewart