BIGGEST HEROIN HAUL: POLICE SET UP AMBUSH ON SAND

Weighed down by almost half a tonne of China White heroin, the
seven-metre fibreglass boat sat low in the water as it came into view
at 3am yesterday well beyond the breakers of Grants Beach, south of
Port Macquarie.

Watched by Federal and State Police with thermal imaging equipment
from the shore it appeared that the red boat, powered by a 160hp
outboard motor and containing the single most valuable consignment to
arrive on these shores, might not make it through the surf.

"We thought we may have had to launch a rescue mission," a Federal
agent said.

But finally, after a five-hour journey from the mothership Uniana,
lurking 25 nautical miles away off Port Macquarie, the boat beached
and police swarmed from the sandhills.

They arrested three men and found 31 bags, each weighing 14 kilograms,
of high-grade heroin. On the floor of the boat sat a Glock
semi-automatic pistol with several spare magazines.

It was our largest heroin seizure, treble the total seized last year.
According to the Federal Police Commissioner, Mr Mick Palmer, the
heroin would cut down to 20 million street deals worth $400 million.

Mr Palmer, and the head of the operation, Federal Agent Ray Tinker,
said the importation had been organised by a sophisticated cartel
operating from Sydney, Hong Kong and China.

It had hired a 40-metre freighter and sailed it from South-East Asia
with nothing but a cargo of heroin.

The NSW Police Commissioner, Mr Ryan, said yesterday that the seizure
might affect supply in Sydney and that the "inflationary effect" and
its effect on property crime would need to be closely monitored.

Yesterday's operation involved 76 Federal, NSW and Customs officers on
the ground, the NSW police helicopter and two police vessels, the
RAN's HMAS Bendigo and two Customs ships, ACV Lyne and ACV Delphinus.

The Federal Police became involved on August 7, when a man arrived on
a Qantas flight from Hong Kong with three others and appeared
suspicious to Customs staff.

He was taken to St George Hospital and x-rayed to see if he had
swallowed balloons of heroin - he had not, but inquiries made led to
the AFP beginning their surveillance.

Throughout the following month several people flew into Australia, and
others out, and met at a flat rented at Enfield. A second flat,
allegedly to be used to house the drugs was rented at Carlton.

On October 7 a Toyota Torago van was rented from Budget Rent a Car in
William St and another from Avis.

That afternoon two of the men drove to the North Coast holiday hamlet
of North Haven, just south of Port Macquarie, and down a bush track to
a secluded section of Grants Beach and then returned to Sydney.

The following day weather proof thermal underwear was purchased along
with jackets, wading boots, eight large sports bags and broom sticks
and torches.

The torches were later allegedly strapped to the broom handles to
guide the dinghy into the shore.

On Saturday the four men set off for North Haven, with one pair
booking into a motel at Bulladelah and the other at Taree.

The sea traffic along the East Coast of Australia is "like Pitt
Street", a Federal Agent said yesterday and it was not until October
12 that police, using aerial and sea surveillance, identified the
Uniana, which normally ferries electrical goods between Hong Kong and
China, as the mothership when it charted and unusual course towards
Port Macquarie.

"We don't know exactly where it was loaded," Mr Tinker said yesterday.
"But it was somewhere in South-East Asia."

At 9.45pm on Monday the dinghy was lowered into the water and chugged
its way 25 kilometres south to the beach.

Just before it was about to land the four Hong Kong men on the beach
were "spooked by something" and sped off down the bush track to be
arrested at Taree.

Within an hour of the landing the two customs vessels surrounded the
mothership and AFP officers boarded, arresting all 11 crew. In total,
18 arrests were made.

Later, Hong Kong police raided six addresses in Kowloon and the New
Territories, seizing piles of documents and "inviting" two individuals
to come in for questioning. One of these is thought to be the wife of
one of the four men arrested in Australia.

Further raids and arrests are expected in the next few
days.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry