Media Release
Northern Command’s record year in review
Editor’s note: Audio grabs and a video message of Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough are available on Hightail.
The AFP’s Northern Command is winding up a year of milestones in disrupting significant and organised crime and keeping Australians safe.
A highlight of 2024 is this month’s Operation Tyrrendor, which resulted in the AFP making the largest-ever cocaine seizure in Australia, with the assistance of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and Australian Border Force (ABF).
More than 2.34 tonnes of cocaine, worth an estimated $760 million, was found onboard a boat intercepted off the Queensland coast during a night-time operation by the AFP’s elite Specialist Response Group.
Two men were arrested on the vessel and another nine men and two young persons, including the vice-president of the Brisbane chapter of the Comancheros outlaw motorcycle gang, were arrested in Bundaberg and Brisbane for their alleged involvement.
The record-breaking seizure equalled nearly half of Australia’s estimated annual total of cocaine consumption*.
AFP investigators disrupted another major criminal syndicate in April, targeting a group believed to be responsible for a botched 900kg cocaine import in late 2023 which led to bricks of the drug washing up on NSW beaches.
Operation Groot was a joint AFP, QPS, ABF, Department of Home Affairs and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) investigation which resulted in charges against 23 people for their alleged involvement in the syndicate and its activities. Those arrested included a Brisbane man, 36, who is alleged to have organised the import and is suspected of involvement in at least two others.
AFP Commander Stephen Jay and Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) Deputy Commissioner Donald Yamasombi met earlier this month to observe the destruction of 500 kg of cocaine seized in PNG during Operation Weathers in 2020.
Commander Jay said the RPNGC is a committed and vital ally in the fight against transnational drug crime, as demonstrated by Operation Weathers and another joint investigation in 2023 that resulted in 20-year prison sentence for a man accused of organising a methamphetamine importation from PNG into Australia via the Torres Strait.
In total AFP’s Northern Command seized more than 4.6 tonnes of illicit drugs in 2024 with an estimated street value of around $2 billion.
A child sex offender who preyed on scores of pre-school age victims was sentenced in the Brisbane District Court to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 27 years in late November. He was responsible for the abuse of 69 children in childcare centres in Queensland and Italy between 2003 and 2022.
After nearly a decade, a breakthrough was made by the AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation’s (ACCCE) Victim Identification Unit (VIU). AFP investigators from the Queensland Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (QLD JACET) arrested the offender, aged 47, in 2022. QLD JACET investigators continue to provide assistance and support to the victims and their families. In July, a Brisbane couple became the first people in Australia to be charged under foreign interference laws that came into effect in 2018.
A man, 63, and woman, 40, were arrested by the AFP and ASIO-led Counter Foreign Interference Taskforce (CFITF) for allegedly obtaining Australian Defence Force material to share with Russian authorities. Their case remains before the courts.
It was a busy year at the three Queensland airports where the AFP provides aviation security and policing services.
Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns Airports saw a total of 33.6 million passengers over the 2023—24 financial year,** with 142 people arrested during the 2024 calendar year.
The arrests were for a range of crimes such as antisocial behaviour on planes and in terminals, theft, security breaches, importing illicit substances and possessing cash believed to be the proceeds of crime.
On December 10 the Pacific Policing Initiative’s Development and Coordination Pinkenba Hub and the Pinkenba Training Centre were officially opened. AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said the Pinkenba facility will increase policing capability across the Pacific and allow the region to rise to current and future challenges.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said 2024 was a standout year for the AFP’s Northern Command.
“The courage, ingenuity and hard work of our AFP members has made our region a lot safer for the Queensland and Australian community this year,” Assistant Commissioner Gough said.
“We have seized more illicit substances and made more arrests than ever before.
“We’ve significantly disrupted organised crime in this state and crippled criminal groups for years to come.
“Whether it is minimising the harm of illicit drugs, countering extremism, saving people from human exploitation, combatting cybercrime or protecting the travelling public at our airports, the AFP is steadfast in its commitment to keep Australians safe.”
*ACIC – Illicit Drug Data Report 2020-21
**Brisbane Airport Annual Report 2024, Queensland Airports Limited Annual Report 2024
