{"id":651425,"date":"2026-05-05T16:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651425\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T16:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:15:11","slug":"sydney-airport-three-men-arrested-charged-after-allegedly-attempting-to-import-14-kilograms-of-heroin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/651425\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Airport: Three men arrested, charged after allegedly attempting to import 14 kilograms of heroin"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Three men are facing serious charges after allegedly trying to import 14 kilograms of heroin into Australia from Thailand.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">On April 23, Australian Border Force officers examined the bags of three men who had arrived at Sydney Airport from south-east Asia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Two of the men, aged 35 and 36, were each found to be carrying 4.5 kilograms of an off-white powder in large plastic bags hidden in the lining of their carry-on bags. The substance returned a positive indication to heroin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-3mk41m-StyledText eze0guv9\">Sign up to The Nightly&#8217;s newsletters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-1r9pdr5-StyledSubText eze0guv8\">Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n<p>By continuing you agree to our <a href=\"https:\/\/thenightly.com.au\/subscription-terms\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Terms<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sevenwestmedia.com.au\/privacy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The men fled from officers through the exit of the sterile area, towards the arrival court, after being told by ABF officers they would be subject to further further law enforcement action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Australian Federal Police officers chased them through the international arrivals area and outside the terminal, where the 35-year-old was slowed down by a member of the public and detained by officers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Officers used capsicum spray to subdue the man after he resisted arrest. He was taken to hospital to be assessed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The 36-year-old was arrested on April 28 in a suburb of Sydney.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/3fd612b36f2911b23ddfc5f41e4c6e2b92a8ff75.jpg\" alt=\"Two of the men attempted to escape officers at Sydney Airport.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>Two of the men attempted to escape officers at Sydney Airport. Credit: Australian Border Force<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">A third man who travelled on a different flight from Thailand on the same day was also arrested.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The 34-year-old was linked to the other two men.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">Similarly, an examination of his bag by ABF officers allegedly found five kilograms of an off-white powder in a large plastic bag hidden in the lining. The substance returned a positive reading for heroin.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/a551e5af2b771a395442ccdcbceb5490ae4aca03.jpg\" alt=\"The men are expected to appear in court next month.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>The men are expected to appear in court next month. Credit: Australian Border Force<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">All three man have been charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, which carries a maximum term of life in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">AFP Detective Superintendent Davina Copelin said the collaboration between the AFP and ABF was essential to preventing illegal drugs entering Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThis alleged importation involved a substantial quantity of illicit substances and underscores the lengths organised crime groups will go to in order to exploit international travel routes for financial gain,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/822f073785279306fc59be15d3e20db73640a01d.jpg\" alt=\"The heroin was allegedly concealed inside of large plastic bags which were hidden in the lining of their luggage.\" class=\"css-16r7l45-StyledImage en5ut4d0\" loading=\"lazy\"\/>The heroin was allegedly concealed inside of large plastic bags which were hidden in the lining of their luggage. Credit: Australian Border Force<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cThe AFP continues to work hand-in-hand with the ABF to identify, disrupt and dismantle criminal syndicates that seek to harm Australian communities through drug importation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">\u201cAnyone contemplating involvement in drug trafficking should be aware these are serious offences. The penalties can be severe, including life imprisonment, and those involved will be detected, arrested and held to account before the courts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-9czhig-StyledParagraph e4e0a020\">The three men are expected to appear in court on June 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three men are facing serious charges after allegedly trying to import 14 kilograms of heroin into Australia from&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-651425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}