Seven men fronted Western Australia’s Supreme Court on charges involving the importation of 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine, worth an estimated $160 million, into Geraldton.
Christos Cafcakis is one of the six men alleged to have been involved in the importation of the drug with two boats meeting off the coast of Geraldton. The other men involved in unloading the drug with Cafcakis are Jabour Lahood, Patrick Bouhamdan, Peter Harb, Serupepeli Rasaubale and Khalid Elia. Of these Mr Lahood and Mr Harb allegedly had management roles in the operation, and court heard the other accused men oversaw the oepration from Sydney. Stephen Baxter was the seventh man, accused of trying to possess the drugs.
Crown prosecutor Heath Barklay QC said police watched some of the accused men unload almost 60 packages of methamphetamine and they were “caught red-handed”. He told the court each package weighed about 25 kilograms, and they were unloaded within eight minutes.
The street value of the drug is at $160 million for each one-kilogram lot.
READ MORE: Trinational Police investigation leads to crackdown of crime ring smuggling drugs to Europe
Mr Barklay said the importation began in July with a similar operation which was successful. At that time, a boat called Vakoista was purchased for $251,000 and was used in both the July importation and the one in December.
Mr Cafcakis’ defence laywer said nobody had discussed with his client the Valkoista would meet another ship to take on a load of methamphetamine, and added that the prosecution raised no mention of Mr Cafcakis in regards to the July importation. He also added that there was more to the story than what the jurors had heard from the crown prosecution.
Mr Bouhamdan’s lawyer said she would argue two of the men due to give evidence would be unreliable.
All seven men have denied allegations, and the trial is expected to run for several months.
