Melbourne Airport security ‘alert’ after flight crews caught smuggling

Aneeka Simonis, Exclusive, Herald Sun
AIRPORT security officials have been put on alert after crew members from two airlines were caught smuggling contraband into Melbourne.
Jetstar said four flight attendants, believed to be three men and a woman, were sacked after they flew in from Bali late last month with 3.5kg of tobacco strapped to their bodies and hidden down pants.
And a Malaysia Airlines flight attendant is accused of smuggling $1.4 million worth of heroin into Melbourne International Airport in May.
Packages of tobacco smuggled into Melbourne by Jetstar flight attendants.
Experts say large organised crime syndicates may be recruiting airline workers, owing to their security clearances.
The Herald Sun has been told security screening of airline staff has been increased.
“They are searching way more crew. It’s a huge focus at the moment,” one source said.
“Flight attendants have always been seen as ‘low risk’ but that seems to be changing. They are obviously taking advantage of that.”
A Malaysia Airlines flight attendant is accused of smuggling $1.4 million worth of heroin into Melbourne International Airport in May. Generic picture: Jay Town
Craig Palmer, a Victorian regional commander for the Australian Border Force, said officials were aware of the threat of airline crew members smuggling in contraband.
“Anyone coming into Australia will be scrutinised, including those who come in an official capacity,” he said.
Criminologist James Martin said organised crime syndicates might be behind the smuggling attempts.
“They will target anyone that can get drugs into a country. If screening procedures are too stringent, they will bribe people doing the procedures,” Mr Martin said.
Jetstar flight attendants were caught smuggling the drugs into Melbourne from Bali.
“It doesn’t matter how sophisticated screening becomes or how much money is put into it. If there’s a huge demand for illicit drugs, there is always going to be someone to take the risk to try and access that market and profit available.”
About 15 per cent of tobacco consumed is black market, and the trade costs nearly $2 billion a year in lost taxation revenue, a 2017 KPMG report found.
And the demand for the black market drug is on the rise, with 15 per cent of all tobacco consumed in Australia last year sold illegally.
The ABF-led Illicit Tobacco Task Force seized almost 60 million cigarettes in a recent nationwide bust.
It came after a year-long investigation into a large-scale illicit tobacco importation and money laundering scheme by a serious organised crime syndicated linked to South East Asia.
Almost 60 million cigarettes were seized as part of the joint operation targeting illicit tobacco.
Jeff Rogut, CEO of the Australasian Association of Convenience Stores, said illicit tobacco financed violent crime and cost small retailers up to $5000 a week in sales.
“They sell illicit tobacco out of cars in shopping centre car parks. Everywhere you go, you can find it,” he said.
“There needs to be better co-ordination to stop it at the street level.”
A Jetstar spokeswoman said all four employees — believed to be three men and a woman — have been sacked.
“Four cabin crew had tobacco confiscated by the Australian Border Force due to exceeding the duty free tobacco allowance,” said the spokeswoman.
“We have issued a reminder to our crew of duty free limitations.”
The ABF said they were “body packing” 70 50g packages of tobacco worth $3208 in evaded duty.
No charges were laid but the ABF was still investigating.
The Malaysia Airlines flight attendant faces serious commercial trafficking charges.
From July last year, the duty free allowance for tobacco was reduced to 25g in addition to one opened packet.