A former rugby league first grade player has pleaded guilty to his part in one of the biggest illegal drug importing busts in Australian history.
John Tobin, 58, who played for Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Roosters, was among 15 men arrested in a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring bust on Christmas Day last year.
He was charged over the alleged operation which trafficked cocaine from Chile to Australia, sending and receiving through the Sydney Fish Markets, Daily Telegraph reports.
John Roland Boyd Tobin (pictured), 58, pleaded guilty to his part in one of the biggest illegal drug importing busts in Australian history
Tobin, who played for Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Roosters, was among 15 men arrested in a multimillion-dollar cocaine ring bust on Christmas Day last year
Mr Tobin, who played 125 first grade games in the 1970s and ’80s, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug via video link in Central Local Court Wednesday.
The highly-organised top secret sting culminated after a two and a half year investigation into the alleged drug trafficking syndicate.
About 500kg of cocaine was seized from an inflatable boat on Christmas day 2016, after officers stormed it as it pulled up to a ramp at Brooklyn, north of Sydney.
Police allege the group used a Sydney Fish Market-based fishing trawler named Dalrymple to transport drugs to a ‘mother ship’, which had travelled from South America.
About 500kg of cocaine was seized (pictured) from an inflatable boat on Christmas day 2016, after officers stormed it as it pulled up to a ramp at Brooklyn, north of Sydney
Tobin (middle row, third from right) was allegedly involved in using a Sydney Fish Market-based fishing trawler to transport drugs to a ‘mother ship’
The men will be alleged of trying to import another 600kg of cocaine – $197million worth – before being intercepted by the French navy off Tahiti in March last year.
Tobin is set to be sentenced in the Supreme Court next year.
The syndicate was allegedly run experienced fisherman, marine workers and company owners, including Darren Mohr, who used to own a cafe run by lifesavers from hit TV show Bondi Rescue.
Mohr has yet to enter pleas to charges including conspiring to import a drug.
The highly-organised top secret sting culminated after a two and a half year investigation into the alleged drug trafficking syndicate
The syndicate was allegedly run experienced fisherman, marine workers and company owners
Officers from Maritime Border Command and the NSW Police’s Marine Area Command had watched the Dalrymple dock at the Sydney Fish Markets for a month before it left for the Central Coast on December 3, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Officers watched the crew launch a one-man dinghy on Christmas night, which allegedly travelled to Parlsey Bay at Brooklyn and met up with two other men.
All three men were arrested and about 500 kilograms of cocaine was seized from the dinghy.
Three other men were also arrested on board the Dalrymple vessel as it docked at Brooklyn Marina on Christmas night.
Officers watched the crew launch a one-man dinghy on Christmas night, which allegedly travelled to Parlsey Bay at Brooklyn and met up with two other men
A total of six men were arrested Christmas night and about 500 kilograms of cocaine was seized