Taskforce Storm: The Australian and Thai alliance preventing $13 billion in drugs from reaching our shores

Deadly drugs worth more than $13 billion have been stopped from reaching the country’s shores since the formation of a task force with Thai authorities that targets criminal syndicates preying on Australia’s “insatiable” appetite for narcotics.

The joint partnership — known as Taskforce Storm — was formed in 2016 between the Australian Federal Police and the Royal Thai Police, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, the Department of Special Investigations and the Anti-Money Laundering Office.

Since then, the task force has seized more than 13 tonnes of drugs destined for Australia. It has also recovered more than $50 million in proceeds of crime in both here and in Thailand.

Remarkably, this includes more than 6t of methamphetamine, 400kg of heroin, 3t of marijuana, 40kg of ketamine, 30L of gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and almost 4t of ephedrine — used in the production of ice.

International crime syndicates, including the notorious The Company — or Sam Gor syndicate — use Thailand as a transit country to smuggle drugs after it is manufactured in South-East Asia’s infamous Golden Triangle.

It is where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet on the banks of the Mekong River — and where opium poppies, from which heroin is derived, flourish.

So-called meth “super labs” thrive in Myanmar, with the product moved through countries such as Thailand and shipped out to lucrative markets. It is estimated that up to 70 per cent of the ice that ends up on the streets in Australia is from Myanmar.

AFP Det-Supt Paul Hopkins, the senior officer-in-charge of the agency’s Thailand base, said Taskforce Storm was set-up to smash syndicates and stop the drugs from reaching Australia.

Det-Supt. Hopkins told The West Australian the results of the task force’s first seven years were “quite shocking” and demonstrated Australia’s demand for meth continued to be “insatiable” despite the harm it caused.

“We know from our water analysis that Australia consumes around 10t of methamphetamine a year which is quite shocking when you look at the deaths caused by methamphetamine — it’s in the hundreds,” he said.

“But we are a demand country — and thankfully Thailand, through Taskforce Storm, gives us a lot of great benefits because they will target all drugs that transit their country and, in particular, they work very closely with us to target any shipments that are heading across the country on their way to Australia.”

This year alone, the task force has seized 3t of meth — found hidden in packets of green tea allegedly seized from safe houses in Songkhla and Ratchaburi provinces — in a targeted operation between May and June.

To put that into perspective, 3t of meth would be worth about $3 billion on the street.

Det-Supt. Hopkins said Australian prices for meth were the highest in the world.

He added, “some in my organisation will say that means we are making a difference”.

“If you’ve pushed up the price, then surely whilst the demand is high, the supply is low, so we are winning — some would say that,” he said.

“I would say we are making a difference, we definitely are, however, Australia’s demand is unfortunately insatiable and it doesn’t matter what we do — the demand is high. And it doesn’t matter how many young people die — we still do it.

“So my reaction to (the task force’s results) is just shocking. Because methamphetamine and heroin, both of them, are two of the worst drugs you can possibly think of.

“And our whole job as police is to reduce harm, and the harm that methamphetamine and heroin does to Australia is just unbelievable.

“To me, it’s just extraordinary that people could still want those sort of drugs when they do so much harm.

“But on the other hand, I’m extraordinarily grateful to the Royal Thai Police and the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the Department of Special Investigations — because what they do for Australia to stop that much harm is just amazing.”

Green tea packaging has for years been a favoured “brand” of packaging for meth syndicates operating from the Golden Triangle — in particular The Company, who “patented” it, according to Det-Supt. Hopkins.

The man who is accused of leading that syndicate Tse Chi Lop — and who is considered to be even more powerful than the infamous Pablo Escobar and El Chapo — was extradited to Australia to face justice last year.

It was considered one of the “most high-profile arrests in the history of the Australian Federal Police”.

Police say The Company targeted Australia with tonnes of drugs and millions of dollars, including plots to bring large amounts of meth into the country via the WA coast.

It is alleged the syndicate was behind a 90kg stash of ice that was found in a house in Cloverdale in 2014 as well as 320kg of the deadly crystals, disguised as tea packets, found in a Canning Vale house in 2015.

Some syndicates have now turned to smuggling the deadly substance packaged as the Asian fruit durian — a food so pungent it is banned from public transport in countries such as Thailand. Taskforce Storm, in its targeting of transnational organised crime, also shares intelligence and carries out joint investigations of money laundering, firearms trafficking and serious fraud.

Last year, a WA businessman who ran multiple Thai nightclubs and bars was stripped of more than $4 million in cash and assets after an offshore international money laundering and tax fraud investigation involving Taskforce Storm.

The two-year-long probe into Nick Ivanina was sparked in 2020, when the AFP-led Criminal Assets Confiscation Taskforce received a tip-off about suspicious international money transfers between bank accounts in WA and Thailand.

Most of the 60-year-old’s funds were in Australian and Thai bank accounts, which were listed under the names of various companies as well as a relative and a business associate of the man.

The assets seized included funds in bank accounts, a Burswood apartment valued about $585,000 and other property.

Under AFP’s International Command, AFP liaison officers based on the ground also provide operational support, intelligence and training to Thai law enforcement agencies.