Five Sydney men have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged drug importation and corruption involving customs employees.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) commissioner Tony Negus said 15 search warrants were executed across Sydney from 7am on Tuesday morning.
Those arrested included a 40-year-old man from Kingsgrove and a 38-year-old from Blacktown. Both are serving customs officers, who worked at Sydney Airport.
"It will be alleged that these customs officers held trusted positions within the airport environment that allowed the syndicate to facilitate corrupt and criminal behaviour, with relative impunity for some time," Mr Negus told reporters in Canberra.
Also arrested were a 30-year-old man from Earlwood, a 29-year-old man from Petersham.
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The Petersham man is a former baggage handler at Sydney Airport. Both are alleged to be associates of the customers officers.
The fifth man was a 35-year-old from Oxley Park, and is the brother of one of the customs officers.
He is expected to be charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime. The others will likely be charged with a range of offences, including abuse of public office, conspiracy to import commercial amounts of pre-cursor chemicals and giving and receiving bribes.
The arrests are part of a two-year joint investigation, involving the AFP, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (Customs) and the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity.
Mr Negus said further arrests were likely because the investigation was ongoing.
