The Organised Crime Partnership, made up of officers from the National Crime Agency and Metropolitan Police reported that three UK nationals from Kent, Surrey and London have been convicted of drug trafficking offences after using the cargo industry to send crystal meth (methamphetamine) worth £3.5 million to Australia.
A woman aged 51, from Croydon, a man aged 52, from Sevenoaks and a 51-year-old man from Orpington were investigated by the Organised Crime Partnership, after a shipment containing 24 kilograms of the class A drug was seized in Australia.
Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) established that the shipment was from the UK, and OCP investigators found that the drugs had been sent from Croydon on 25 June 2021.
The three were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the exportation of Class A drugs in April 2022.
They were convicted on 13 January after a trial at Croydon Crown Court.
They will be sentenced at the same court on 2 March.
AFP London-based liaison officer Detective Sergeant Kristie Cressy said members of the AFP’s extensive international network worked closely with the National Crime Agency to identify organised criminals and disrupt the movement of illicit drugs around the world.
She said: “The AFP obtained intelligence during an Operation Ironside investigation in Australia about an organised crime syndicate allegedly operating in the UK and sending parcels of illicit drugs offshore.
“We worked closely with our counterparts at the National Crime Agency to share intelligence that identified members of the syndicate operating in the UK and stopped their criminal ventures.”