Police seized cryptocurrency ATMs, five kilograms of illicit drugs and millions of dollars in cash in southeast Sydney as part of a multi-agency operation involving the US Department of Homeland Security.
Officers arrested two men, aged 34 and 39, on Friday afternoon as part of an ongoing investigation into drug importation and suspected money laundering in New South Wales with the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the assistance from the US agency.
Three men have been charged after nearly $4.7 million in cash, 5kg of drugs and cryptocurrency ATMs were seized in Sydney.Credit:New South Wales Police
Police allege they searched the youth and found him with $120,000 in cash, and the older man with $51,500 in cash, as well as 13 envelopes containing illicit drugs. The envelopes, which allegedly contained cocaine, heroin and methylamphetamine, were seized for forensic investigation.
Video footage of the young man's arrest, provided by NSW Police, shows unmarked police vehicles stopping a black car on a congested Canal Road near Princes Highway in St Peters on Friday and guiding it into the car park of a a cleaning supply store. .
Plainclothes officers are then shown retrieving an Australia Post package from the car, which contained 10 packs of $50 bills, as well as packs of $100 bills from the glove compartment.
Footage from the elderly man's arrest in Redfern shows bundles of $50 bills in a backpack in the car, while the drugs were allegedly contained in several Australia Post envelopes.
During the investigation, wads of $50 bills were seized.Credit:New South Wales Police
A NSW Police statement said officers then executed a search warrant at three related properties on Friday night: two units in an apartment block on Gardeners Road, Mascot, as well as a storage unit in Kingsgrove, where they arrested a third man, 45, and seized a number of items related to the investigation.
Among them were money counters, mobile phones, laptops, USB sticks, and three cryptocurrency ATMs, which allow users to buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with cash or a debit card. Police say they also seized $4.7 million in cash and about 5 kilograms of drugs, including heroin, methylamphetamine and cocaine, believed to have been illegally imported into the country.
