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Top cop charged over $120m drug haul
Allegedly worked with a European crime syndicate
Full coverage of this story at the Daily Telegraph

A TOP law enforcer, tasked with uncovering organised crime and drug trafficking, has been arrested and charged for allegedly masterminding a plot to produce Australia`s biggest ever haul of the deadly drug "ice".

Mr Mark Standen, an assistant director with the NSW Crime Commission, was arrested at his desk in Sydney yesterday for his alleged role in attempting to import enough ephedrine to produce more than $120 million worth of ice.

It is one of the most serious allegations of corruption ever made in Australian law enforcement history.

The alleged breach potentially threatens the security and integrity of some of the nation`s most sensitive and secret police operations.

The 51-year-old officer had for more than a year allegedly been working with an alleged criminal syndicate in the Netherlands to bring in the chemicals, hidden in a consignment of basmati rice.

Mr Standen was arrested yesterday by Australian Federal Police agents as part of a series of co-ordinated raids in Europe, Thailand, Sydney suburbs including Blacktown, Campbelltown, Alexandria and Maroota and at Bateau Bay on the Central Coast.

Late last night he was taken from his Kent St, City, office to the Sydney Police Centre for questioning.

Mr Standen`s lawyer Paul King emerged from the centre shortly before midnight confirming his client had been charged with conspiracy to import into Australia a commercial quantity of a border controlled precursor.

Mr Standen was also charged with conspiracy to supply not less than a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Agents allegedly recovered several items of evidence during the raids here and overseas, including what were labelled as 40kg bags of rice.

About 150 police including six SWAT teams raided homes and offices in four cities in the Netherlands and arrested 11 suspected drug lords late last week.

The AFP put the Crime Commission building into lockdown yesterday as officers raided Standen`s office, seizing documents and equipment.

Staff were told to remain at their desks during the raid.

Sydney food importer Bill Jellatly, 40, from Maroota, in Sydney`s northwest, was held in custody overnight.

It is understood Jellatly`s wife was a long-standing AFP investigator who worked with Mr Standen. She is not considered a suspect.

In a bizarre twist, the drug-making chemicals never made it to Australia with a rival Pakistani criminal group suspected of double crossing the alleged plotters and offloading the haul before it was shipped to Australia.

It is understood the arrests follows hundreds of hours of telephone tap interceptions.

It is alleged Mr Standen used his senior position and knowledge of trans-national crime to establish the best ways to smuggle in the ingredients used to make the ice, knowing which cargo containers got searched and designing a shipment to evade the latest crime fighting technology.

He had sat in on confidential national law enforcement meetings with police chiefs which every month convened to discuss the latest organised crime and illicit drug movements and top secret police operations, while allegedly hatching a drug plan of his own.

The arrest follows Operation Octans, a covert AFP probe looking into his alleged corruption. Because of his position, the investigation was highly secret with only a handful of agents privy to the operation.

Mr Standen, whom police codenamed "Rupert", had worked in law enforcement for almost 30 years including the AFP, which he left 12 years ago, the Customs Service, the National Crime Authority and most recently the NSW Crime Commission where he has held a senior and trusted position for almost a decade.

NEWS.com.au is not responsible for the content of external sites.

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Top cop `in $120m drug haul` 06/03/2008


	11. 2008

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