Police saw smuggler's every move

As drug smuggler Paul Kleindyk opened a locked box in a Welshpool storage unit to check what he thought was 12.5kg of methamphetamine crystals, he quickly suspected something was wrong.

Australian Federal Police officers who had switched the drugs and were covertly monitoring the storage unit in April last year watched him become agitated as he paced and sent text messages.

The 41-year-old, who had flown in from Queensland to collect the consignment from Sydney, then covered his hands with a Chux cloth to avoid leaving fingerprints as he re-examined the plastic containers before leaving empty-handed.

After driving to a nearby shopping centre where he made several calls, it appeared his greed won out and he returned to take another look at the packages.

Sentencing the father of two yesterday to 18 years jail over the drug trafficking enterprise, Supreme Court Justice Lindy Jenkins said he was motivated by a desire to make money.

The 12.5kg, which analysis found was almost 78 per cent pure, was valued up to $3.99 million if sold by the kilogram but a lot more in 0.1g street-level sales.

After Kleindyk was arrested in WA, police raided his Queensland home and found more than $760,000 cash, chemicals used to make methamphetamine and small amounts of the drug.

At a Queensland storage unit leased in his name, they found about 500g of the drug, almost 59,000 ecstasy tablets, 263g of cocaine and chemistry equipment.

AFP surveillance footage of Paul Kleindyk while in Perth.

Justice Jenkins rejected Kleindyk’s claims he had a $10,000 debt and he had just been following orders from the people he owed because he feared for the safety of his family.

He claimed he had allowed them to hide their drugs and money at his properties and had travelled to WA only to check the quality of a drug shipment.

Justice Jenkins said she was unable to say if Kleindyk was the main organiser of the smuggling enterprise but was satisfied his role was much more than a trusted underling or courier.

“The drugs, money and paraphernalia found in your possession show that you were involved in or very close to the manufacture, storage, transporting and sale of a large quantity of different types of prohibited drugs,” she said. “Your role must have been vitally important to the ultimate distribution of the drugs… (which) would have caused significant harm in the Australian community.”

She told the clean-cut and smartly dressed father that illicit drug businesses relied on people like him “who looked like respectable members of the Australian community” to help them to flourish.

The Judge said she accepted he had wanted to make money to pay for treatment for his autistic son but he was also funding a lifestyle he desired.

She also said the fact he stored drugs, chemicals and cash at his home and put his family at risk of poisoning and burglary was not behaviour consistent with that of a caring, loving father and husband.

AFP Perth manager Cdr Matt Rippon said the 12.5kg found in that one WA shipment showed the demand and ongoing thirst for the drug in WA.

The drugs were transported from Sydney to Perth in this silver box.

He said it was difficult gauge how much methamphetamine was smuggled into Australia but in the first nine months of this financial year, the AFP had seized 951kg of the drug across the country.

Among that was a 90kg haul from one alleged drug syndicate in WA in October – the biggest methamphetamine seizure in the State’s history.

While forensic tests have not yet identified the source of the 12.5kg, Cdr Rippon said most methamphetamine was imported into Australia from southern China but police had also intercepted drugs sent from Thailand, Iran and Mexico.

The operation that led to Kleindyk’s capture was sparked when he came to AFP attention months before his April 2014 arrest.

Kleindyk refused to talk to police after his capture but inquiries are ongoing into any international links he may have had.

“We’re continuing to look for links offshore to satisfy ourselves it wasn’t just a domestic syndicate, looking at the pure amounts here and the profits involved it would be naïve to think it’s just a one or two-person operation,” Cdr Rippon said.

Two other men were arrested in Perth at the same time as Kleindyk and although they were later released without charge, police said it showed he had links in WA.

Cdr Rippon said Federal and State authorities were doing their best to stem the supply of methamphetamine and he believed they were starting to have an impact.

Police found methamphetamine in crystalline form and cocaine in block form, and a plastic bag found to contain MDMA pills.

Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan said “cross-border crooks” should be on notice that the Commonwealth had unprecedented co-operation from States and territories to tackle the ice scourge.

He said while the issue of ice was not solely one for law enforcement, record seizures of the “insidious drug” had been possible because of the combined efforts of the AFP, their state and territory police counterparts, the Australian Crime Commission and Customs.

The Abbott Government recently announced it was establishing a national ice task force to re-evaluate efforts to address the ice scourge and identify ways for a co-ordinated approach to education, health and law enforcement.

Kleindyk had earlier pleaded guilty to five charges over the drug and cash seizures. His sentence was backdated to April 2014 and he must serve 11 years and three months’ jail before being eligible for parole.