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07 September 2020, 9:55am
Media Release

Three men sentenced for Operation Veyda

Three men have been sentenced over their roles in the criminal syndicate which attempted to import more than 1.9 tonnes of illicit drugs from the Netherlands in 2017.

Operation Veyda was a major investigation which successfully dismantled two interlinked organised crime syndicates operating across Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Europe.

More than $5.4 million dollars identified as proceeds of crime was also seized.

The three men aged, 46, 33, and 30 were sentenced on Friday, 4 September 2020 for laundering illicit funds and tobacco which further benefitted the criminal syndicate.  

The sentencing outcomes for the three men were:

  • Two years' imprisonment with a non-parole period of one year and five months for the 46-year-old man;
  • Three year intensive corrections order for the 33-year-old man; and
  • 18 month suspended sentence for the 30-year-old man.

The men were originally charged with offences ranging from conveying tobacco products, with the intent to defraud revenue to dealing in the instrument of crime – money worth $100,000 or more.

A further 18 Australians were charged as part of the investigation. Five Dutch nationals were also arrested by the National Police of the Netherlands (NPN) for their roles in the syndicate.

Operation Veyda included assistance from the New South Wales Police Force, UAE Ministry of Justice, the Dubai Public Prosecution Office, Dubai Police, the UAE Federal Customs Authority, Dubai Customs, the NPN, the National Public Prosecution Office of the Netherlands and Hong Kong Customs and Excise, along with Australian Border Force, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and the Attorney-General's Department.

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