As police in Victoria continue their ongoing crackdown on clubland, two Melbourne music promoters have been accused of participating in an international drug smuggling syndicate and trafficking $275 million worth of ice.
As The Age reports, five men faced court last week after they were nabbed by a joint federal-state organised crime task force. The men had allegedly hidden 275kg of ice under the floorboards of three shipping containers imported from China.
The quarter tonne of ice was held inside udon noodle packets and police, who’ve performed a spate of raids on music venues and arrested several local scene figures in recent months, said the haul had a street value of $275 million.
According to The Age, 24-year-old An Ken Vi and Raymond Lach, also 24, employees of big-time Melbourne trance promoter Majik Entertainment, have been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
Both men are said to have worked on the Kearnage party taking place at Festival Hall this Saturday. However, it’s important to note that neither Majik Entertainment nor its director, Giovanni Polizzi, have been accused of any wrongdoing.
Back in April, The Railway Hotel in Brunswick and Two Floors Up on Lonsdale Street were subject to unrelated raids, with three men involved in the management and operation of the venues charged on trafficking offences.
Drug task force detectives reportedly seized thousands of ecstasy pills, methamphetamine, and cash. Police charged 47-year-old Chris Lytras, believed to be the owner of The Railway Hotel, and venue manager Paul Polito, 37, with trafficking offences.
Police later told Melbourne Magistrates’ Court that Railway Hotel manager Lytras, and Polito, who allegedly acted as a “concierge” for drug buyers, sold large quantities of drugs out of the upstairs office of the popular venue.
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Drug trafficking at the venue was reportedly so commonplace that an undercover operative was at one point forced to line up outside Lytras and Polito’s office with other drug buyers. Melbourne DJ Jason Kolbeck, co-owner of Two Floors Up, was also brought up on charges.
Then in May, another local DJ and another nightclub promoter were arrested, accused of attempting to smuggle a kilo of ketamine into Australia. DJ Kasey Roy Taylor and promoter Robert Charles Oung allegedly ingested about 500 grams of the drug each and attempted to smuggle it in from Asia.
Taylor and Oung were examined under the Customs Act and charged with importing a marketable quantity of an illegal substance, before being taken to the Alfred Hospital where police waited for the drugs to pass through their systems.
