Airline crews in smuggle bust
INTERNATIONAL airport security officials have been put on “alert” after crew members from two major airlines were caught smuggling drugs and contraband into Melbourne.
Four Jetstar flight attendants were busted with 3.5kg of tobacco strapped to their bodies and hidden down their pants after a six-hour flight from Denpasar in Bali late last month.
A Jetstar spokeswoman confirmed all four employees — believed to be three men and a woman — were sacked after the incident.
The plot, thwarted by the Australian Border Force, is the latest to be carried out by crews travelling from South East Asia.
A Malaysia Airlines flight attendant was allegedly caught smuggling $1.4 million worth of heroin into Melbourne International Airport in May.
Drug crime experts say large organised crime syndicates may be targeting airline workers due to their security clearance.
News Corp has been told security screening of airline staff has been heightened.
“They are searching way more crew. It’s a huge focus at the moment,” a Melbourne airport source claimed.
“Flight attendants have always been seen as ‘low risk’ but that seems to be changing. They are obviously taking advantage of that.”
ABF Regional Commander for Victoria Craig Palmer said officials are aware of the threat of airline crew entering Australia with prohibited or restricted items.
“We don’t just target passengers — anyone coming into Australia will be scrutinised, including those who come in an official capacity,” said Cdr Palmer
Australian criminologist James Martin said organised crime syndicates may be behind the latest drug smuggling attempts.
“They will target anyone that can get drugs into a country. If screening procedures are too stringent, they will bribe people doing the procedures,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter how sophisticated screening becomes or how much money is put into it. If there’s a huge demand for illicit drugs, there is always going to be someone to take the risk to try and access that market and profit available.”
Illicit tobacco costs Australia almost $2 billion a year in lost tax revenue, a 2017 KPMG report found.
And the demand for the black market drug is on the rise, with 15 per cent of all tobacco consumed in Australia last year sold illegally.
The ABF-led Illicit Tobacco Task Force seized almost 60 million cigarettes in a major nationwide drug bust this week. It came after a year-long investigation into a large-scale illicit tobacco importation and money laundering scheme by a serious organised crime syndicated linked to South East Asia.