A married couple will spend up to nine years in prison each over a drugs plot which saw them try and import 56kg of cocaine worth $18m from Switzerland hidden in car tyres.
The man, aged 60, and his wife, 52, from Nollamara in Perth were found guilty last November and received their sentences yesterday.
They were convicted of the attempted possession of a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported cocaine.
ABF officers found packages of white powder stuffed behind the rims of the performance wheels at the Perth cargo facility.
The consignment was transferred to the AFP and forensic specialists found 56 packages of white powder, which contained 37.67kg of pure cocaine.
The drugs were replaced before the tyres were delivered to a Nollamara home on 5 July, 2022.
The next day the couple used tools and knives to cut apart the car tyres to get the black plastic-wrapped packages of drugs inside.
The father and son flew in from Sydney that week, collected the packages and headed to a hotel.
They opened at least one of the plastic-wrapped blocks before dumping them all in a skip bin outside a shopping centre.
The AFP arrested the pair, before searching the home.
AFP acting Superintendent Chris Colley said drug traffickers were “motivated by greed and did not care about the harm they caused.”
“This amount of cocaine had the potential to be sold as about 280,000 individual street deals of 0.2 grams and put about $18.2 million in the pockets of criminals,” he said.
ABF acting Superintendent Carmen Lee said “the skills and vigilance of ABF officers at the border ensured this dangerous cargo was stopped before it could reach Australian streets.”
“This outcome should act as a warning to anyone considering drug trafficking. Do not be blinded by greed, you will be found out and face serious jail time,” a/Supt Lee said.
