Don’t judge a bookshelf by its cover: How a Colombian gang hid a sophisticated drug operation behind this secret door inside a suburban Sydney home
- A Sydney house with a secret door behind a bookshelf used for drug operations
- The AFP is currently trying to seize the Sylvania property over the allegations
- The action by the AFP is linked to an investigation into a Columbian crime gang
A secret door behind a seemingly innocuous bookshelf in a suburban house led to a sophisticated drug operation run by a Colombian gang.
Australian Federal Police are trying to seize the property in Sylvania, Sydney under the Proceeds of Crime Act alleging the house was constructed with hidden rooms as a front for the drug operation.
A raid was conducted at the house in 2017 where AFP officers found the rooms in a cellar behind an entrance disguised as a bookshelf.
A secret door behind a bookshelf in a southern Sydney house led to a sophisticated drug operation by a Colombian gang
A raid was conducted at the house in 2017 where AFP officers found the rooms in a cellar behind an entrance disguised as a bookshelf
Drugs, replica weapons, cash, a Taser, and a wireless transmitting device were found in the rooms, police say.
The joint-owner of the property, a 45-year-old man, was charged with multiple drug-related offences, including supplying cocaine, possessing cannabis and dealing in proceeds of crime with a value over $100,000.
He plead guilty earlier this year and was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and four months.
The attempt to seize the house follows an earlier AFP investigation into a Sydney-based Colombian organised crime group allegedly involved in the importation of border-controlled drugs and the laundering of the proceeds of crime.
Australian Federal Police are currently trying to seize the Sylvania property under the Proceeds of Crime Act
Drugs, replica weapons, cash, a Taser, and a wireless transmitting device were found in the rooms, police say