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An Irishman who is alleged to be a member of an international gang accused of trafficking drugs into Australia has been arrested.
The 36 year old Irishman was one of four men arrested in Darwin on Wednesday following a multi-agency police operation.
All four men appeared in court in Darwin Local Court on Friday and did not apply for bail.
The gang is alleged to have transported cocaine and MDMA with an estimated street value of $1m Australian dollars (€660,000) from Europe into Australia.
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In a statement, Northern Territory police said members from the Joint Organised Crime Taskforce Nemesis charged four men following a four-month operation into the supply of illicit drugs in the Northern Territory.
Northern Territory police said a 36-year-old Irish national, a 31-year-old UK national, a 24-year-old French national and a 41-year-old Darwin man were all charged with supply commercial quantity of a “schedule 1 drug”.
“The operation identified a sophisticated syndicate that transported MDMA and cocaine from the United Kingdom to Darwin,” Detective Senior Sergeant Mark Stringer of the Northern Territory Police said.
“Police allege that on October 8th two males travelled to Mount Isa where they collected a package containing drugs.”
“The pair then travelled back to Darwin on October 11th and dropped the package at a Darwin CBD storage shed. They were arrested shortly after.
“A third male attended the shed and collected items from the package. Upon doing so, members from Taskforce Nemesis and the Territory Response Group arrested him.
“The package was found to contain 1.2 kilograms of MDMA pills and 127 grams of cocaine.
“Two search warrants were then carried out at two Darwin residences where a fourth man was arrested. During these warrants, police seized five grams of MDMA along with a number of electronic devices.”