Trio fly into ice storm
THREE Australian men face the prospect of life in prison if convicted over an alleged $255 million drug plot which planned to use a small plane to fly a payload of the killer drug ice from California to Melbourne.
Sydney man Jim Soukoulis was allegedly at the centre of a plan to buy a light aircraft in the US, strip out its seats and fly across the Pacific Ocean with more than 250kg of ice and a 72-year-old pilot.
A tip-off in January this year led to a six-month investigation by the Australian Federal Police and the US Drug Enforcement Agency. It resulted in the arrests of the Australian trio and the seizure of the plane, 255kg of methamphetamine and $2 million in cash.
Soukoulis, 52, appeared in a Sydney court yesterday charged with money laundering and was extradited to Victoria to appear in a Melbourne court today.
Police will allege the ice seized in Santa Rosa, California, had an estimated street value of $255 million.
Soukoulis was arrested last Friday at Sydney International Airport and charged in relation to the seizure of $2.4 million hidden in a prime mover in Mildura in April. He was granted strict bail but was rearrested yesterday.
The last of the trio, a 54year-old Melbourne accountant, was arrested yesterday. It follows the arrest earlier this month of Hugh Gorman, 72, at Melbourne Airport.