Haouchar family’s bad news month kicked off with plane load of cocaine discovery
It’s been a tough month for Ahmed Haouchar.
In October, Haouchar was accused of being the main man responsible for the 100 kilograms of cocaine found on board a Qantas flight. Two of his brothers were also taken into custody on unrelated cocaine charges. Now, his alleged drug suppliers have been nabbed in South Africa.
The bad news for the Haouchar family began on October 7 when the Australian Federal Police arrested five men after a Qantas flight from Johannesburg, with a cargo hold full of cocaine, put wheels down at Sydney Airport.
A Sydney baggage handler was arrested over an alleged 100kg cocaine import in October. South African police arrested five men over the weekend allegedly connected to the plot.Credit: AFP
Airport baggage handlers Darren Bragg and Michael McPherson were arrested on the runway while working for Jets Transport Express.
They had allegedly loaded bags of cocaine directly from the Qantas flight into a van driven by Ziad el-Mustapha, police said, in an attempt to get the cocaine out of the airport.
Officers from the AFP’s Operation Lucian then texted another man in Sydney, David Cain, from Bragg’s captured phone, luring him to Coogee before he was arrested as well.
Two baggage handlers had allegedly loaded bags of cocaine directly from the Qantas flight into a van in an attempt to get the cocaine out of the airport, police said.Credit: AFP
But it was the 42-year-old Ahmed Haouchar who investigators alleged was the “primary Australian facilitator” of the importation.
The AFP allege Haouchar, a “significant member” of international organised crime, operated from his home in the south-west suburb of Padstow. He was charged with possessing a commercial quantity of cocaine.
“It will be alleged he liaised with someone in South Africa – or with connections in the country – to source 100 kilograms of cocaine and have it placed on an aircraft,” an AFP spokesman said on Tuesday.
“It will be alleged this man was also responsible for its onward distribution in Australia.”
The cocaine allegedly seized from Sydney Airport in October.Credit: AFP
Last Sunday, Ahmed would have received news while in prison on remand that his brother Nedal was arrested trying to board a flight at the same airport.
Police allege Nedal was also moving around Sydney bricks of cocaine valued at millions of dollars in an unrelated drug import.
The 37-year-old was charged with two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, being 10 kilograms and two kilograms of cocaine, one count of supplying a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug, five counts of dealing with the suspected proceeds of crime, collectively worth millions of dollars, and one count of knowingly directing activities of a criminal group.
Over the following days, hundreds of officers from NSW Police’s Strike Force Tromperie rounded up 24 people allegedly linked to the “billion-dollar syndicate”.
Then the most infamous member of the Haouchar brood, Bilal, was reportedly detained in Lebanon over his alleged commanding role in the syndicate.
Bilal was last seen in Australia boarding a business-class flight to Beirut in September 2018.
The Lebanese authorities have yet to confirm if Bilal has been arrested or will be transferred back to Australia, but NSW Police said it was the end of Australia’s single-largest crime crew.
Then, on Tuesday, the AFP announced Operation Lucian had passed intelligence to the South African Police Service to chase down their end of the $40 million drug bust connected with Ahmed Haouchar.
South African police raided five locations across Gauteng province, arresting five men who allegedly had access to Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg through their employment with aircraft logistics providers.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto said the recent high-profile arrests in Turkey and information sharing in South Africa would “cripple the ability of organised crime” to operate in Australia.
The five men arrested in South Africa remain before the courts.
“The flushing out of airport employees that are key enablers has dealt a severe blow to organised crime,” South Africa’s Major-General Ebrahim Kadwa said in relation to the five individuals arrested in South Africa.
Ahmed Haouchar was unavailable to comment on the arrests.
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