MAHMOOD FAZAL: Inside this Ho Chi Minh City building
is an apartment used by an alleged baron of Australia's meth trade.
For months I've been investigating the supply chain for methamphetamine,
mostly ice, or crystal meth...
They're huge.
..following high-level traffickers, dealers, cooks, runners, enforcers...
I'm loyal to the people I'm with,
and I'm aggressive and violent to protect them.
..retracing the journey
the drug takes from its source in South-East Asia
to the people who control the trade there -
powerful militia and secretive Chinese syndicates.
If you were to describe the triads in one word, what word would you use?
If you were to describe the triads Ruthless.
Cold.
We've never been more challenged.
It's relentless. It's 24/7.
Australia is one of the most lucrative meth markets.
Australia is one of the most Last year
we shot up, smoked and snorted Last year
we shot up, smoked and snorted around 10.5 tonnes of meth -
a 17% increase on the year before.
We spent about $10 billion on the drug.
It's easy to get. It's easy to use.
It's reasonably cheap.
But the consequences are devastating.
The humiliation, the judgement, the segregations.
I've travelled thousands of kilometres along the meth pipeline
I've travelled thousands to investigate the trade
and to hunt a man believed to be one of the drug barons behind it.
I'm at this address waiting for a meth cook.
A little bit nervous
because it's taken a lot
for us to convince him to
be part of this documentary for us to convince him to
be part of this documentary
and to tell his side of the story,
and I hope he shows up.
(KNOCK AT DOOR)
He's here.
Turn the camera off.
Hello?
Thanks for coming.
How are you? Thanks for coming.
How are you? Good.
CREW: Is it OK if I film? Can she film yet or...
Yes. Yeah, yeah.
Of course.
This cook has asked me to call him Brendan.
This cook has asked me What have you got in your bag?
He says he's going to explain how he cuts his ice.
What's in this tub?
So, it's good for you?
Guys like Brendan operate at the bottom of a vast global supply chain.
How much is that worth?
At a high-level commercial trafficking level,
what kind of product are they dealing with?
They're huge.
How much money could you make off one of those big rocks
on the street?
(CHUCKLES)
I'm just gonna get some more light.
Cutting maximises profits I'm just gonna get some more light.
Cutting maximises profits
by diluting the meth with a cheap substitute to bulk out the product.
And Brendan's going to show me just one part of the process.
And then just go straight in.
Australia is a key market.
We're among the world's biggest users.
For the past 10 years
outreach workers Jane and Mike have seen the havoc firsthand.
JANE: On the street there's more chaos.
There's a lot more engagement with police.
There's a massive increase
drug-induced psychosis,
in what we call drug-induced psychosis,
or they might call it 'dip'.
Jane says ice has taken over.
And I would say 95% of my caseload Jane says ice has taken over.
And I would say 95% of my caseload is now meth users.
What are your thoughts on...
They spot a rough sleeper Jane used to work with.
His name is Matty and he says he'll meet them in a nearby park.
He also tells Jane and Mike he had a hit a few hours ago.
MIKE: He keeps saying he's going to go, and then he...
..he gets distracted and does something else anyway.
And if he doesn't come in 5 or 10,
I would guess we're probably... And if he doesn't come in 5 or 10,
I would guess we're probably... we'd be here for hours.
Time doesn't have much relevance here.
Time doesn't have Eventually they catch up with him.
And how are things going Eventually they catch up with him.
And how are things going for you at the moment?
Matty's paranoid police are coming for him.
You know, you're just a homeless-bum no-one.
He insists on going somewhere private.
OK, what about snap, crackle and pop?
OK, what about After about an hour and a half
he's ready to talk.
How's today been for you?
Um...
Uh...
Lately I've been struggling in myself a bit.
You know, I was up all night.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
You're not sleeping at night or it's just too hard to...
No, I just finally got some decent ice last night.
Ah.
And if you buy a half ball...
Matty starts describing his experiences on the drug.
Well, I've had to do things that I don't like doing.
Sometimes you can get a contaminated hit.
You know, a dirty hit is quite unpleasant of unpleasants.
Everyone's got their own...
As I listen to Matty,
I can't help but think about the meth barons
swamping our streets with this devastating drug.
And it can take a life, possibly, at the extremes.
And it can take a life, possibly, I want to know who's behind it.
Yeah.
(INSECTS CHIRP)
I keep hearing about a guy
who's suspected of being behind I keep hearing about a guy
who's suspected of being behind some of the large meth shipments
who's suspected of being behind hitting our shores.
I've been trying to get his name for weeks.
So far no luck.
I've decided, if I really want to find him,
I need to understand his world.
To operate a meth syndicate, you need five things -
To operate a meth syndicate, a manufacturer, a trafficker,
a door - someone who creates a hole a manufacturer, a trafficker,
a door - someone who creates a hole at the Australian border,
muscle - a bunch of violent people to keep everyone in line,
muscle - a bunch of violent people and finally you need distributors
who get the drugs to the streets.
I'm on my way to meet with a syndicate
who work with a Chinese triad.
The whole meeting's cloaked in secrecy and light on details.
At the last minute
they give me an address.
We've hit some unexpected traffic,
and we could potentially be a few minutes late.
I'm really...
..anxious that they might think something's gone wrong on our end
..anxious that they might think or that they couldn't trust us
because we're even or that they couldn't trust us
because we're even just a few minutes late.
That's how high the level of paranoia is in situations like this.
Two guys meet me at the door.
They're on edge.
They tell me to go to the laundry.
There's a heap of meth and a heap of money.
It's quite an almost...
..like a citrusy smell.
It's really...
Yeah, like lime or citrus.
They say lately they've been getting undercut by Mexican cartels
who are starting to dominate this multi-billion-dollar market.
They tell us this is their morning's takings.
They tell us So, the people I've spoken to
who supply large commercial quantities of methamphetamine
have said that the Chinese importers
will buy it for roughly $1,000 to $3,000
will buy it in Northern Thailand.
But by the time they get it across the border here, in Northern Thailand.
But by the time they get it across the border here,
they charge roughly $10,000 to $30,000 per kilo.
And then the distributors roughly $10,000 to $30,000 per kilo.
And then the distributors
purchasing off the Chinese triads
will charge roughly between purchasing off the Chinese triads
will charge roughly between $60,000 and $70,000 for a kilo.
The profits are massive.
It's taken me a while,
but a former high-level distributor
has finally agreed to talk.
He was once near the top
of the Australian meth game.
It's hard to fully verify what people are saying.
But their stories match a lot of what I've seen and heard
But their stories match during our investigation.
It's really rare for anyone of this calibre to speak candidly on camera.
Are we rolling? CREW: We're rolling.
Who are we rolling? Nah, I'm kid...
Who are we rolling? (LAUGHS)
He wants to be known as Jay.
He's done time for trafficking
and he started dealing when he was 14.
I'm more worried about how I'm going to put food on the table and...
Jay says he started selling weed.
On a daily basis I was getting, like, at least 70, 80 phone calls.
Like, I couldn't even sit down to have a proper meal, you know?
The authorities say that...
He tells me he moved up the chain selling to other dealers.
Then a distributor offered him some meth.
They asked me how long I was going to take
to actually move the product.
I told them, "I don't know,"
because, honestly, I didn't know how I was...what I was capable of.
And, yeah, it took me two days, less than two days.
Soon Jay says he was making 30 to 40 grand a week.
Soon Jay says he was making Were you ever tempted to touch it?
No, not really
because just seeing all the...
..everybody else having the downfall and everything else,
..everybody else having the downfall it's disgusting.
What makes it disgusting?
The fact that people see that as a priority.
I've had clienteles where, for example,
they have the kids running around in nappies and everything,
nappies hasn't been changed in the past two or three days.
Instead of them using that financial...
..like, financial funds on their own kid, they're passing out,
and it's just, like... Man, it's just...yeah, but...
Didn't then that spin you out, though?
That they were paying you... Yeah, it did... Yeah, it did,
but at the end of day, if they don't grab it for me,
they'll grab it from elsewhere, which...
they'll grab it from elsewhere, They'll grab from elsewhere,
someone else will probably give them
a product that's even lower grade, like percentage, than mine,
which doesn't...so, they're not even getting the money's worth.
Things have changed since Jay was in the game.
A kilo was a large amount of product,
you know, whereas now we're talking about...
..we're talking about half a tonne, tonnes.
Man...
The triads. That's where the triads come in.
The triads. With triads there's contracts,
for example, what you can...capable of doing and what you promise them,
what you can able do and, yeah, keeping your word to it and whatnot.
Otherwise they just cut you off. And if not, then...
Everything comes with consequences and everything else.
You know what you signed up for. They know what they signed up for.
One of Jay's associates says the triads guarantee delivery.
If a shipment is lost, they wear the cost and send another.
For years
several of those triads operated in a lucrative network called The Company.
I've heard that the suspected drug baron I've been looking for
has been working with what's left of that network.
has been working At its height
The Company was thought to be earning as much as $17 billion a year,
more than some Fortune 500 companies.
Australia was a key market.
The man police allege was head of The Company, Tse Chi Lop,
was arrested and eventually brought to Australia
was arrested to face trafficking charges in 2021.
This arrest would be
one of the most high-profile arrests in the history of the AFP.
He is awaiting committal in a Melbourne prison.
IAN MCCARTNEY: Operation Kungur that started off in 2017
was a priority focus on what we call The Company,
a South-East Asian syndicate
that was responsible for significant imports into Australia.
that was responsible for significant And through the work of the AFP
working with over 17 agencies And through the work of the AFP
working with over 17 agencies in a range of countries,
from our perspective, we've greatly degraded
from our perspective, the activities of that syndicate.
I'm learning more about the meth business.
For months I've been chasing a former enforcer. I'm learning more about the meth business.
For months I've been chasing a former enforcer.
He's finally agreed to meet.
There's a real risk he won't turn up.
(PHONE LINE RINGS)
(ON SPEAKERPHONE) Hello? Johnny.
Are you here? Yeah. I'm here.
There's only one form of regulation within the drugs trade -
There's only one form of regulation violence.
I'm loyal to the people I'm with
and I'm aggressive and violent
to protect them.
Johnny served 16 years in prison
for hacking a man to death with a samurai sword.
In the moment when I need to do something,
In the moment it's like there's a switch...
..and just click and I'm going.
This is the attitude you need to become an enforcer.
I can't hold back.
Even if you pull me back,
I will go forward again.
If I seen him bleeding, I will go forward again.
If I seen him bleeding, I want to see more bleeding.
But that's...that's... You know that's not normal.
That's not normal.
Exactly.
I want to know how someone becomes muscle for a triad.
Johnny tells me his life flipped in his early teens.
Johnny tells me We were a really loving family.
I was a good...good kid at home.
He says he started hanging out with a troubled kid,
and within months
Johnny and the kid were roaming the streets getting into fights.
Johnny and the kid were roaming I named us White Rose.
In Asian culture
white rose means death.
Another incident happened...
Johnny says he got a reputation for extreme violence,
and that led to prison,
where he met a senior triad.
If you could only use one word
to describe the triads If you could only use one word
to describe the triads that you've met,
to describe the triads what would that word be?
Cold.
When you sit with him, you talked to him, you looked at him,
you actually felt that... that coldness from him.
Then the power.
He's a gentleman...
He tells me more about the triads.
They very well-organised.
To them, business is more important than violence.
They only use violence only when they needed it.
But it's someone else is doing it, not them.
Which is smart, right?
I've heard from other sources Which is smart, right?
I've heard from other sources there's a hierarchy amongst triads.
I've heard from other sources Melbourne triads report to Sydney,
Sydney to Hong Kong,
Hong Kong to Macau
and Macau to mainland China.
I wasn't trying to make a name for myself...
I wasn't trying I asked Johnny to confirm,
but he doesn't want to talk about it.
I asked him about Tse Chi Lop,
who's also known as Sam Gor.
Police are making a big statement
about the recent arrest of one Chinese triad called Sam Gor.
about the recent arrest OK. Yeah.
And they're saying OK. Yeah.
And they're saying that they've got the godfather
And they're saying of the whole of the South-East.
Yeah.
What do you make of that?
(LAUGHS)
If they was the biggest person in the organisation
If they was the biggest person and then now they get busted,
how come they all organisations and then now they get busted,
how come they all organisations still stand still?
how come they all organisations Who's running them?
People are consuming almost as much meth
as when The Company was allegedly operating under Tse Chi Lop.
as when The Company was allegedly And what I'm hearing
is the rumoured drug baron I've been investigating
is helping to keep the meth flowing.
People are telling me if I want to find them and understand their trade,
I need to go to South-East Asia.
(BIRDS TWITTER)
My first port of call is Bangkok,
where I find Patrick Winn.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Your handwriting (INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Your handwriting is nearly as horrible as mine.
(LAUGHS) I'm a journalist, after all. You're a journalist.
(LAUGHS) Yeah. Your credibility just shot up.
(LAUGHS) Yeah. (BOTH LAUGH)
Patrick studied Asian drug markets (BOTH LAUGH)
Patrick studied Asian drug markets for a decade.
Patrick studied Asian drug markets It's coming to Australia...
He explains how the meth business works.
It begins when an organised-crime syndicate He explains how the meth business works.
It begins when an organised-crime syndicate
is looking for a place to build a meth lab.
That syndicate will go into Myanmar
and find an armed group.
The armed group will say, "Yes, and find an armed group.
The armed group will say, "Yes, you can build a meth lab here."
They'll usually site it next to a stream
'cause it takes a lot of water to make meth.
And the armed group will take a tax of the meth production.
That's pretty much all they do.
They make sure that it's not raided by cops.
They usually control their own areas like little countries,
so, the cops can't come in anyway.
(BIRDS TWITTER)
Patrick tells me
drug runners take the meth from Patrick tells me
drug runners take the meth from the lab in Myanmar to the border.
Syndicates move it from the border to a port.
From there it's packed into legal goods like tea or speakers
From there it's packed and smuggled into Australia.
If there's demand on the Australian side for more crystal meth,
if it's really moving,
the order can go all the way back up to the meth labs in Myanmar,
and they have the capacity to produce more.
The flow is so heavy
that even if cops do pick off this truck or that truck,
that even if cops do pick off they're getting at best 10%.
It's just unstoppable.
The heartland of meth production in South-East Asia
The heartland of meth production is the Golden Triangle.
It's a mountainous region
that covers the borderlands
of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.
It's rush hour in Mae Sai, Northern Thailand.
Authorities are on high alert.
They're looking for drugs, mainly meth,
that might have slipped across the border.
Border areas like this
are where the vast majority of drugs enter Thailand.
This is one of the front lines in the global war on drugs.
The day before we arrived
the Thai military shot and killed 15 meth smugglers
trying to cross the nearby border.
At a rural warehouse not far from the checkpoint
a drug smuggler starts work.
Panel by panel
he shows us how he readies Panel by panel
he shows us how he readies his scooter for an illicit cargo...
..tea bags usually crammed with kilos of crystal meth.
Every time he goes out
he risks jail or death.
He's part of a vast network
that stretches all the way to Australia,
that stretches a dark highway of drugs
which has risen more than 500% in the past decade.
People get shot, people get killed doing this job.
People get shot, people get killed That could be you.
He's just one of many people
who make a living on the edges
of the Golden Triangle's multi-billion-dollar meth trade.
The Golden Triangle's actually quite a big area,
The Golden Triangle's but this is the centre of it.
So, we're in Thailand. but this is the centre of it.
So, we're in Thailand.
About 200 metres right over there is Myanmar.
And right across the river is Laos.
So, we're literally And right across the river is Laos.
So, we're literally where it all happens.
I'm standing with Jeremy Douglas at the apex of the Golden Triangle.
He's led the UN's anti-drug operations here
for more than a decade.
How much is the meth economy in this region worth?
The last time we measured it a couple of years back pre-COVID
The last time we measured it was about $60 billion.
But if you look was about $60 billion.
But if you look at where concentrated production
But if you look really takes place,
it's really here
and it is in Latin America,
primarily in Mexico, Central America.
I asked Jeremy what role triads play here.
They've really had deep hooks into the drug trade
through this country and through the surrounding countries,
through Hong Kong, through Yunnan, through Macau,
for decades.
So, really, their role in this today for decades.
So, really, their role in this today is what it always was,
So, really, their role in this today which is to, essentially,
connect the products of these places to the markets.
He says traffickers first came here for heroin in the 1970s
and then introduced meth in the mid-'90s.
The arrival of Tse Chi Lop allegedly changed the game again.
He did something unique.
For the first time ever
he took crystal meth, changed For the first time ever
he took crystal meth, changed the business model and mentality
around how do you procure and distribute meth to the streets?
And basically did that by connecting this place to Australia.
It had never been done before.
It's further up the Mekong, in Myanmar,
It's further up the Mekong, where massive super labs
have been producing large amounts where massive super labs
have been producing large amounts of meth bound for Australia.
I'm talking to lots of people here about the meth trade.
At a local cafe
I meet a Thai general
who casually drops that a key player in the global meth trade
is an Australian man.
He won't tell me his name.
I immediately think of the alleged drug baron.
We've actually managed to find someone
who currently works in a crystal-meth super lab.
who currently works It's incredibly rare access,
and he's speaking to us It's incredibly rare access,
and he's speaking to us at great danger to himself.
We're on our way to meet with him right now.
I've been brought to a house on the outskirts of the border town Mae Sai.
Hello.
Mr A. Hello.
Mr A. Yes.
Nice to meet you. Thanks for having us.
Nice to meet you. Can we come in?
What exactly do you do for work?
How did you get into this kind of work?
Mr A used to play the popular Thai sport sepak takraw at a high level,
Mr A used to play the popular Thai but got injured.
He says he started using and selling meth.
He was taken in by a former team-mate's family,
He was taken in who put him to work in a meth lab.
How much drugs do they typically make?
Is that every day?
I ask him who owns the lab?
Are they Chinese syndicates?
(COMMANDER YELLS IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
(SOLDIERS YELL IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
(TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS)
The United Wa State Army
are an ethnic militia that profits The United Wa State Army
are an ethnic militia that profits enormously from the meth trade.
are an ethnic militia that profits (SOLDIERS YELL IN LOCAL LANGUAGE)
The Wa are a people indigenous to Myanmar and China.
A lot of the super labs are on United Wa State Army territory
in Myanmar's Shan State.
(FIREWORKS EXPLODE)
They're backed by Beijing,
which turns a blind eye to Chinese organised crime
plying their trade on Wa land.
(MOTORCYCLE ENGINE BUZZES)
I've just found out a smaller Wa militia might meet with me.
They're called the Wa National Army.
After several hours I'm near the Myanmar border.
We're in, um...Ban Rak Thai
waiting to meet with someone from the Wa National Army
who will hopefully begin to escort us across the border into Myanmar.
I don't have a lot of faith that we will get across the border tonight
just because we're losing light rapidly.
Our fixer is on the phone
pleading with whoever's on the other end of the line to get us across.
pleading with whoever's on the other Um... Hopefully we will.
I'm not identifying our fixer
because she works on both sides of the border with some serious people.
After 15 minutes of wrangling
she has news.
What do you think our chances are?
We can cross, but... What do you think our chances are?
We can cross, but... Tonight?
We can cross, but... We cannot cross tonight.
We cannot cross tonight? CREW: Yeah.
We got to talk, like... OK.
..to see if we can cross tomorrow 6 o'clock.
Yeah. So, even tomorrow is up in the air still?
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
The Wa militia is saying they're not sure they can guarantee our security.
The Wa militia is saying they're not Night-night! Goodnight!
Then they have a change of heart.
We've just been told that we can cross at 7:00AM tomorrow morning.
We've just been told that we can They were really nervous
about the tense political situation They were really nervous
about the tense political situation at the moment.
about the tense political situation It's a very quiet town now.
It's around 10 o'clock,
and I've seen two police cars It's around 10 o'clock,
and I've seen two police cars kind of patrolling the area.
So, we're hopeful that everything's calm tomorrow morning
So, we're hopeful that and we can actually get across.
(INSECTS CHIRP)
(BIRDS TWITTER)
I set out at dawn with an escort.
We stop a few hundred metres from a Thai military outpost.
If they see me, there could be trouble.
We're about to cross the border into Myanmar.
It's been extremely difficult trying to get access into the country
because a recent wave of violence has inflamed the civil war there.
because a recent wave of violence This volatile region
has different ethnic groups This volatile region
has different ethnic groups fighting for territory,
and it's also where Australia's meth is produced.
and it's also They tell me this is the first time
international media They tell me this is the first time
international media has visited this base.
Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you too.
Mahmood Fazal from the ABC. OK.
This is Colonel Lu Mong, local commander of the Wa National Army.
This is Colonel Lu Mong, local How close is the fighting?
The fighting, uh...over there...
What can you hear?
Lu Mong has about 200 fighters living here.
I want to know how close I am to the source of meth production in Myanmar.
Does the Wa National Army
receive funding and support from the United Wa State Army?
Some of the experts that we've spoken to about this region
say that wherever there are guns and militias
say that wherever there are guns there's going to be drug production.
What do you make of that?
In the past, the Thai authorities have arrested former members
for drugs manufacturing and drugs trafficking.
for drugs manufacturing What do you say to that allegation?
Lu Mong's militia may or may not be making or trafficking the meth,
Lu Mong's militia may or may not but since the 1950s
Shan State militias have been but since the 1950s
Shan State militias have been benefiting from the drugs trade.
Before meth, this area was known as an opium-growing region.
Before meth, this area was known (LAUGHS)
For decades it was controlled by the notorious narco warlord Khun Sa.
He's been romanticised in popular movies.
He's been romanticised But quitting while you're ahead...
..is not the same as quitting.
(ROOSTER CROWS)
The former US Attorney-General called him the 'Prince of Death'.
The individual primarily responsible The former US Attorney-General called him the 'Prince of Death'.
The individual primarily responsible
for this worldwide devastation of drug addiction
is Khun Sa.
Hello, Khuensai.
Hello.
Pleased to meet you. Welcome to our place.
Khuensai Jaiyen was Khun Sa's PR person.
Today we catch up with him at the office of a dissident newspaper
Today we catch up with him at he founded in Chiang Mai.
And can you tell us a bit about he founded in Chiang Mai.
And can you tell us a bit about this amazing jacket you've got?
Well, when the village headman has something to tell the villagers,
you will see a Shan beating a hollow log.
And that's your role now?
Your role now is really to hit the And that's your role now?
Your role now is really to hit the log and have people listen, like us.
Your role now is really to hit the Yeah.
Most of the Shans...
He says today's meth trade
runs the same way as the opium trade did in Khun Sa's time.
To fight against the Burmese government,
we didn't have any foreign government supporting us,
and the only source of income for us was opium,
and the only source of income for us which is already there.
And in the old days, it wasn't...
..uh...illegal.
(BIRDS TWITTER)
Khuensai says the real winners weren't the Shan.
They were the Chinese and Laotian generals who controlled the trade.
They were the Chinese and Laotian (WATER SPLASHES)
Journalist Patrick Winn says
the syndicates running the super labs in the Golden Triangle
the syndicates running the super labs are usually Chinese.
PATRICK WINN: They might be triad-affiliated,
they might be full-blown triads,
but they don't have to be.
These people are interested in business, but they don't have to be.
These people are interested in business,
These people and their sons and daughters
go to nice private schools
and they live in normal neighbourhoods
and they're just really good at moving things from A to B.
and they're just really good It really comes down to that.
What exactly does the meth economy in Australia
fuel in this part of the world,
in Myanmar specifically?
So, when someone goes and buys a bag of crystal meth in Australia,
So, when someone goes and buys um... (SCOFFS)
..they're fuelling a long chain
that goes all the way back into the Golden Triangle,
that goes all the way back into the mountains of Myanmar.
You have made a Chinese organised into the mountains of Myanmar.
You have made a Chinese organised crime syndicate a little bit richer.
You have made a Chinese organised You've probably partially funded
the purchase of everything from weapons, medicine,
um...you know, asphalt to pave roads
in an impoverished part of Myanmar.
I mean, it actually helps prop up Myanmar's junta as well.
After months of digging, phone calls and late-night meetings
I've got the name of the suspected drug baron.
I discover he may be living in Vietnam or Cambodia.
And I learn police are investigating him too.
With a name,
our team gets this Facebook video.
His tattoos help identify him.
They're exactly what you'd expect
of a senior figure in the Asian organised-crime world.
His name is Daniel Rodney Badger.
SONG: # My whole world changed His name is Daniel Rodney Badger.
SONG: # My whole world changed
# From the moment I met you
# And it would never... #
This is a video of his lavish wedding in Vietnam.
# Felt like I knew that I always loved you... #
Badger is on the Australian Federal Police's high-value target list.
Is it fair to say that you'd have to be one of the major drug importers
to be classified under that high-value target list?
There's a range of factors to consider,
but that would be one of the key factors, yes.
We're sitting in AFP headquarters.
There's a room, an ops room, in this building, a windowless room,
and we have pictures of all of the high-value targets on the wall.
And we're just working through them one by one and ticking them off.
It's a priority focus in terms of taking them out
and removing their influence on the drug trade.
Daniel Rodney Badger is of significant interest to the AFP.
In 2016 Badger listed this public housing residence in Western Sydney
In 2016 Badger listed this public as his address.
Just a year later
he became a major shareholder Just a year later
he became a major shareholder
in a multi-million-dollar Vietnamese chemical and fertiliser company.
The company has bonded warehouses
and they say they export fertilisers to Australia.
and they say they export fertilisers Badger sold his holdings in 2018.
In 2020 he opened a car wholesale business in Ho Chi Minh City.
I'm not going to go into individual cases,
but what I can say in relation to these people,
but what I can say these high-value targets offshore,
we know where these people are, we know what countries they're in,
we know where they live,
and we are coming after them.
About two years ago
it's believed Badger obtained Cambodian citizenship.
He also got a new Khmer name -
Sovannarith Sen.
We tried to contact him.
I've got two phone numbers for Daniel Rodney Badger
and, uh... I'm going to give him a ring
and put some of these allegations to him.
(PHONE LINE RINGS)
RECORDING: The subscriber you have called
is not available at the moment.
(PHONE LINE RINGS)
RECORDING: Sorry, (PHONE LINE RINGS)
RECORDING: Sorry, but your call cannot be completed.
We sent him a list of questions, but didn't hear back.
We asked the Cambodian government
if they're aware of Badger's We asked the Cambodian government
if they're aware of Badger's alleged activities in the meth trade
and if, given these revelations, his citizenship will be revoked.
They didn't reply to our questions.
Why can't the AFP stop the flow of meth on the streets in Australia?
We are having an impact.
We're having an impact both domestically and internationally.
We're having an impact both But, unfortunately,
Australia still But, unfortunately,
Australia still has an insatiable demand for drugs.
International traffickers have told us
that the AFP are so obsessed with seizures
they've been exploiting it as a weakness
by diverting your attention with dummy loads
by diverting your attention while they import tonnes elsewhere.
Seizures of drugs is important,
preventing drugs Seizures of drugs is important,
preventing drugs hitting the streets of Australia,
preventing drugs but our priority focus
is on the people that are behind these drug seizures.
And that's what we've tried to publicise
in terms of the important work that we're doing in this space.
But, again, I think it's fair to say we've never been more challenged.
Organised crime has become more globalised.
It's become more sophisticated.
It's become more connected.
It's relentless. It's 24/7.
Governments in the West
have been fighting the flood of drugs from the Golden Triangle
have been fighting the flood of drugs since the middle of the 20th century.
For Australia,
the front line has now shifted to meth coming in from North America.
It's clear that taking out major players
doesn't necessarily stop the flow.
Other markets will meet it.
What more could Australian authorities be doing?
This is no longer a policing issue
when it gets to this level of production and trafficking.
when it gets to this level And I think it's one of those things
that needs to have a public discussion.
It requires also a response that's political in nature.
It can't simply be in the back rooms and left to police alone.
Law enforcement is one part of the solution.
But, again, the narrative is incredibly important,
particularly in relation to harm reduction.
It's having such a disastrous impact on our community.
We need to continue to tell people about that message.
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