Eight men have been jailed for a combined 95 years and seven months after an international sting exposed a brazen plot to smuggle more than six tonnes of methamphetamine into Australia concealed in bottles of canola oil.
The final member of the syndicate, a 27-year-old man from Hinchinbrook in NSW, was sentenced in Coffs Harbour District Court on Wednesday to four years and six months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and six months.
His sentencing marks the end of a sprawling investigation known as Operation Parkes, led by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce — comprising the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police and Australian Border Force — alongside NSW Police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canada Border Services Agency and authorities in New Zealand.
AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Raegan Stewart said the scale of the operation posed a serious threat to Australia’s security and wellbeing.
“The criminal activities of organised crime networks have devastating effects on our financial and health systems.”
She warned that profits from large-scale drug importations could also be used to fund politically motivated crimes or terrorism, contributing to instability across the region. “Members of criminal networks give little thought to the widespread suffering they inflict by peddling illicit drugs such as methamphetamine into our country,” she said.
“These hideous substances destroy individuals, families, and communities, so the seizures under Operation Parkes have saved lives.”
Authorities say the criminal network attempted to import four separate consignments of liquid and crystal methamphetamine from Canada to Australia in 2023. In total, Canadian authorities seized more than six tonnes of the drug — the equivalent of almost 19 million street deals — before it could hit Australian shores.
The investigation began in December 2022 when Canadian officials intercepted about 200kg of crystal methamphetamine, allegedly worth $180 million, hidden inside bottles of canola oil bound for Australia. A month later, they uncovered a far larger shipment — about 2.9 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $720 million — concealed in another consignment of oil.
After alerting the AFP, investigators removed the drugs from the second shipment and replaced them with an inert substance before allowing it to continue to Melbourne under covert surveillance in March 2023.
Two Melbourne men, aged 41 and 34, collected the shipment and transported it to storage sites across the city using a logistics business. Both were arrested in June 2023 and later received lengthy prison terms of 23 years and 17 years and six months respectively.
Further inquiries identified two NSW men, aged 36 and 27, as allegedly responsible for collecting, delivering and storing parts of the consignment once it reached Sydney. They were charged in February 2024 following a joint investigation with NSW Police.
Three other Victorian men — aged 31, 28 and 22 — were arrested over a clandestine laboratory operating in Melbourne, where investigators found significant quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine, along with drug manufacturing equipment, cash and two imitation firearms.
Additional shipments were also intercepted overseas. In May 2023, Canadian authorities seized a further 3.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine across two consignments. In New Zealand, police and customs officers confiscated 713kg of crystal methamphetamine concealed in maple syrup containers, which authorities suspect was linked to the same syndicate.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Martin O’Brien described the importation attempt as drug trafficking on an “industrial scale”, saying it fuels road trauma, family violence, homicides and other serious offences. “Seizing six tonnes of methylamphetamine — or $1.7 billion worth — is a significant blow to organised crime,” he said.
“Alongside our partners, we will continue to target and disrupt the top-level organised crime syndicates to take illicit drugs out of circulation at the source.”
Officials in Canada and New Zealand also hailed the operation as a powerful example of international law enforcement cooperation, warning transnational crime groups that borders would not shield them from prosecution.
With all eight Australian offenders now sentenced, authorities say the outcome sends a clear message to organised crime networks attempting to exploit global supply chains to flood Australia with illicit drugs: they will be detected, disrupted and jailed.
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