Four men and a woman said to be behind a plot to import $11.5 million worth of cocaine into Australia are behind bars on Saturday after British police intercepted the consignment, stashed in tins of powdered nuts.
James Allotey, 41, of Marrickville, southwest Sydney, and US citizens Mauricio Kreimerman, 30, Melissa Peron, 25, Mario Colokuris, 47, and Christian Pelaez, 25, were all charged in connection with the plan which allegedly involved the drugs being smuggled across three continents.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) said two air cargo consignments, containing 33 kilograms of cocaine, arrived in London from Mexico earlier this month and were addressed to a business premises in Sydney.
But British police seized the drugs and replaced them with substitutes.
Mr Allotey is accused of taking delivery of the two packages at a storage facility in Sydney's west on Tuesday.
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It is said Mr Colokuris arrived in Sydney from Los Angeles and helped Mr Allotey transfer the boxes to a hotel in the Sydney CBD where they began to unpack them.
The next day, the AFP arrested the pair along with the three other US citizens.
Mr Allotey applied for bail at Parramatta Bail Court on Saturday, but was denied.
Magistrate George Zdenkowski formally denied bail to the other defendants.
They each face a single charge of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of cocaine.
The case was adjourned to May 31 at the Sydney Central Local Court.
The AFP said the haul was significant and that the operation, initiated by the British border agency, had stopped the drugs from hitting Australian streets.
"This seizure has saved the Australian community approximately $9.5 million in associated health and social costs," AFP acting manager Mick Kelsey told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.
"Countless lives would have been affected by this seizure had it reached the streets."
