Archival tape – Remy:

“It's an addiction. The money’s an addiction. The lifestyle’s an addiction. You can have girls that you want. You can have nice, shiny things that you want.

It's an ego thing. When you come from nothing, it's about making something.”

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RUBY:

From Schwartz Media, I’m Ruby Jones. This is 7am.

The global cocaine business, controlled by International Cartels, is worth tens of billions of dollars. And in that world, Australia is drawing more attention and the business is becoming more sophisticated.

That’s because a gram of cocaine is sold in Australia from $300 to as much as $400.

But the public rarely gets an insight into this enormous sector of criminal enterprise. How cocaine gets into the country, where the money goes and the violence involved is often veiled in secrecy. Until now.

Today, 4 Corners reporter Mahmood Fazal, on his investigation into the cocaine trade and how he came face-to-face with the people responsible for it.

It’s Monday, May 22.

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RUBY:

So Mahmood, you've spent the last five months investigating the cocaine trade in Australia. So speaking to dealers, to people who work in law enforcement, all the way up to importers. To begin with, can you tell me about why you thought this was a story that needed to be told and what drew you in?

MAHMOOD:

I think initially it was really the scale. So cocaine’s going through this massive surge in Australia. We're using more of it than ever before. More than any other country in the world per capita. And we pay some of the highest prices for cocaine in the world.

Archival tape – Reporter 1:

“The truth of Australia’s cocaine crisis.”

Archival tape – Reporter 2:

“We do know we got the most expensive cocaine in the world, practically.”

Archival tape – Reporter 3:

“Armed and dangerous, international drug cartels are sending record amounts of cocaine to reap world's highest prices.”

MAHMOOD:

But it's a story that's rarely reported behind the headlines of a drug bust or beyond police press releases. We only hear half of the story. And so what I wanted to know was how this growing economy works from the inside.

So speaking to people at every rung of the supply chain, from street dealers all the way up to large scale traffickers. We managed to get unprecedented access to people importing cocaine and really painting a picture of a scene that has become decentralised in the last year.

RUBY:

And of course, people who work in the drug trade, they're reluctant, usually, to talk publicly about what they're doing or what they have done, for obvious reasons. So how hard was it to convince people to speak with you and why do you think that they agreed to?

MAHMOOD:

So before I was a journalist, I was a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. And that experience allowed me to forge relationships with people in the criminal world and gain their trust. The characters in this story held the view that the war on drugs isn't working, that the paths to crime for many people like them are misunderstood. So they really wanted to have their voices heard.

RUBY:

Okay. Well, tell me about some of the things that they said to you. Maybe we can start with some of the dealers who you spoke to. How did they describe to you what it is that they do and the way that the industry works?

MAHMOOD:

So I spoke to several dealers, including runners, traffickers and importers. They all describe themselves as, essentially, service providers who meet a growing demand. Most of them were quite aware of the moral issues with drug dealing, the health and social problems. But their position was complicated by the fact that most of them were drug users themselves. Among the most interesting people I spoke to was the five time Archibald Prize finalist Benjamin Aitken, who turned to drug dealing during COVID and rapidly began supplying other dealers as a trafficker himself.

Archival tape – Ben:

“When I was actually, you know, getting photos of bricks and seeing bricks, like, kilos... That was probably when I realised I'd really, sort of…“

MAHMOOD:

His business model was simple: Don't dilute the product and charge higher prices.

Archival tape – Ben:

“I always, in the back of my mind, knew that there's a really good chance that I could go to jail.”

MAHMOOD:

He had encrypted apps that he would use to send out menus of all the different prices and types of drugs he had on offer. He also had drivers who would drop it off to the users within the hour. And his organisation grew rapidly, to the point where he was dealing in ounces and ounces, turning over hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Archival tape – Mahmood:

“Do you think there's a moral problem with being a drug dealer?”

Archival tape – Ben:

“So I sort of justified it consciously by being like, well, if you're going to buy drugs, at least buy them from me because, you know, I'm going to look after you.”

MAHMOOD:

What I found interesting was that he would temper his moral dilemma by offering links to drug and alcohol services, and he would detail safe drug practices for users.

Archival tape – Ben:

“I would explain dosages to everybody.”

MAHMOOD:

But then all of that again, was contradicted by the fact that he was found in possession of a shotgun.
So it's a really complex web and it's full of contradictions and full of big personalities that are really riddled in greed.

RUBY:

And a big part of why the cocaine business in Australia is so lucrative is often explained by the fact that Australia is an island continent, so far away from everywhere else. And so that means that cocaine can be sold for so much more because it's difficult to actually get the drug into Australia from places like Colombia or Bolivia. So, what were you able to find out about how that actually works, how cocaine is brought into the country?

MAHMOOD:

So Australia is a tough market for cocaine importers because, as you pointed out, it's an island nation with heavily protected borders. The key to getting it over the border is the role of what's called a door.

So I spoke with someone who actually does that work, a door who once worked at Sydney Airport and was responsible for corrupting his colleagues at the airport.

He made some pretty startling admissions about the presence of Latin American cartels on our shores, in Australia, and their involvement with the authorities on our borders, basically involved in corrupting them.

He claimed that they've got members of their organisations accounting for all the product that basically comes across our borders, but they also have foot soldiers and he goes as far as saying they even have hitmen here on our shores to safeguard this market.

RUBY:

And Mahmood, from time to time, we hear about law enforcement disrupting the supply of cocaine. Typically, there'll be a kind of a large drug bust announced. But tell me a bit more about what you've learned about how authorities are handling the supply of cocaine into Australia and responding to the volumes that are coming through.

MAHMOOD:

So three years ago, police targeted a so-called Aussie cartel of nine drug traffickers who were operating from Turkiye and Dubai.

Archival tape – Scott Morrison:

“Today, the Australian Government, as part of a global operation, has struck a heavy blow against organised crime, not just in this country, but one that’ll echo…”

MAHMOOD:

So their operation was disrupted by the ANOM app.

Archival tape – Reporter 4:

“The encrypted messaging app, ANOM, was impenetrable. It was, in fact, the brainchild of the AFP and run by the FBI.”

MAHMOOD:

But even the biggest police busts and the disrupting that network through the ANOM app just wasn't enough. Between November and February this year, authorities seized about seven and a half tonnes of cocaine destined for our market. That's about three tons more than the previous annual record, in just four months.

Archival tape – Reporter 5:

“One by one, officers unload their haul.”

Archival tape – Police:

“Another 3…”

Archival tape – Reporter 6:

“7 bags containing 320 individual blocks of cocaine, worth almost $130 million.”

MAHMOOD:

So after the ANOM app disrupted the major Aussie cartel, I wanted to find out who the big players were that’d, basically, filled the void in the market. And I managed to make contact with a guy we'll call Jason, who operates at the highest levels in a very small syndicate, and he's a part of the new ecosystem, which is basically large swathes of smaller groups. He says that cocaine was once dominated by a handful of major players, like that Aussie cartel. But these days it's completely fractured and there's a huge number of smaller syndicates that are operating across Australia, and his syndicate is just one of them.

RUBY:

We’ll be back in a moment.

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RUBY:

Mahmood, you've recently spoken to someone who is at the very top of the supply chain in Australia. So, a large scale, commercial cocaine trafficker who we're calling Jason, not his real name. Can you tell me a bit more about how he described his operation, as well as the current market in Australia, the demand?

MAHMOOD:

His operation was really just a close knit group of four or five people that would work with overseas cartels. And a growing number of smaller syndicates, not associated with outlaw motorcycle clubs, not associated with traditional organised crime, like Italian Mafia or the Triads. They run really small, tight knit operations and forge connections overseas themselves. So that's kind of how the market's grown and changed.

Archival tape – Mahmood:

“The trafficker is taking a huge risk meeting me like this. To minimise the danger, he won't let us keep an audio recording. We've used a voice actor instead.”

Archival tape – Jason:

“Okay, Mahmood. I’ve brought something along to show you. Have you got a plate I can put it on?”

Archival tape – Mahmood:

“Sure. One sec.”

MAHMOOD:

Jason told us that he was moving more cocaine, at the moment, than he'd ever done in his entire career as a drug dealer. A career that spans 30 years.

Archival tape – Mahmood:

“Well, the smell of that is strong.”

Archival tape – Jason:

“Smelling it from that distance, you know it's good. Because they use petrol to process it, that's where the smell is coming from.”

MAHMOOD:

He said he's been selling multiple kilos every week, which amounts to millions of dollars in profit.

Archival tape – Mahmood:

“How much coke is on that plate, and how much is it worth?”

Archival tape – Jason:

“This particular cut is from the corner of a one kilo brick, it's about four or five ounces. I would say street value, this is 50 thousand.”

MAHMOOD:

And his access to cocaine in Australia has never been greater.

RUBY:

And I mean, it sort of sounds like law enforcement is being outpaced here by operations like this that are keeping things small. Do you think that that is a fair analysis? What did law enforcement authorities say to you about how they felt that they were managing the situation?

MAHMOOD:

Police were very clear. They said that the traffickers have access to the best technology and are rapidly creating new methods. So naturally, their role is to adapt and respond.

But what I found interesting was when I spoke to Hany Elbatoory, the director of investigations at the New South Wales Crime Commission. He said that 40 years ago, in a speech that enacted the State Drug Crime Commission, law enforcement said their process was successful only against those who executed the crimes on the ground.

So the street dealers, the people moving the product and dealing directly with consumers.

But the process was less successful against the professional facilitators. The financiers and the big bosses that are essentially running these operations. And he conceded that even today, 40 years later, that hasn't changed.

RUBY:

Yeah, that's interesting. It sounds like when you step back and you think about the way that this all works and the people who, I mean, are ultimately doing the best, I suppose, from this are these big plays, the financiers and the big bosses, and they're not worried about being caught or their supply being disrupted.

MAHMOOD:

I think the alarming message across the board is that they aren't worried at all. There are just so many players who are rapidly developing new ways of getting coke into the country that there's always different syndicates that they can work with. Even though the market's fractured, there's so many smaller players that it's created a whole new ecosystem. And that's why, between November and February this year, authorities seized seven and a half tons of cocaine, and that's three tons more than the previous annual record, in just four months. So Australia's really become this prized drug market with huge profits and the soaring demand. And as these big players become fractured into smaller and smaller syndicates, it's becoming even more difficult for law enforcement to stop the dealers.

RUBY:

And you spoke to so many people about their role in this ecosystem. And I wonder what they said to you about how they, I guess, accounted for what they do and the potential harm that it causes. What did they, you know, say to you when you asked them to reflect on that?

MAHMOOD:

In our interviews, the dealers who were actively trafficking showed less remorse than those who had stopped. Many didn't feel a sense of guilt because cocaine is a drug that's almost a symbol of privilege. Culturally, it's seen as this party drug for the middle and upper classes, and the people selling it to them are often from a very different socioeconomic circle.

But I think generally they were aware of the devastating effect cocaine causes from Latin America around the world and here in Australia, and many of them had experienced it themselves. In our story, the character Remi had been stabbed, Jason had guns pulled on him and Ben had been to prison.

But the rewards greatly outweighed their sense of guilt. They were just blinded by the money.

RUBY:

Mahmood, thank you so much for your time.

MAHMOOD:

Appreciate you doing this. Bye.

RUBY:

You can watch Mahmood Fazal’s investigation on the ABC’s 4 Corners, on iView, youtube, or ABC TV, 8:30 tonight.

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RUBY:

Also in the news today…

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden have met on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Hiroshima, Japan.

At the meeting, the two agreed to a new pact that would allow special cooperation on climate change and the trade of critical minerals. President Biden also promised to work on securing Australia a special designation for the procurement and production of US weapons known as ‘Title 3’.

And,

Broadcaster Stan Grant was the subject of 150 mentions of the ABC’s coronation coverage by the Australian and Sky News in the two weeks since the broadcast.

Grant will hold his last episode of Q&A tonight, saying racist abuse in the aftermath of the coronation has forced him to step away from the show, and criticising senior executives at the ABC for not speaking out against the false accusations levelled at him.

I’m Ruby Jones, this is 7am. See you tomorrow.

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