A criminal gang embedded about $1 million worth of drug ice into the fabric of T-shirts, New South Wales Police allege.
The gang then allegedly used a top-loading washing machine to carefully extract the drugs in a meticulous procedure at an Airbnb rental property in Sydney’s southwest.
The allegations emerged in a bail application lodged by Brandon Maseuli before Judge Stephen Rothman on May 16, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Police said the case shows the lengths to which organized crime groups go to smuggle drugs into Australia, in this case using T-shirts with the “Merry and Bright” logo.
Police alleged in court documents that after the shirts were covered in ice, overseas drug dealers shipped them to Sydney.
Brandon Masueli (center), whose bail request was rejected, faces 77 charges related to an alleged crime spree late last year.
The court heard that after the clothes arrived in Sydney last October, a gang allegedly spent a week extracting the lethal drug using a top-loading washing machine and stove burners.
The washer was new and still wrapped in plastic when they arrived.
Two of the men listened to nine hours of instructions on how to extract the drugs via telephone and video calls with an overseas-based criminal and others, the court heard.
“It’s a new and novel method,” a police source told the Daily Telegraph.
‘They are constantly evolving in the techniques used. We have seen them do it in sauce bottles, shampoo, clay pots.
“And with technology constantly evolving, now that we know this method, they will find another way.”
Maseuli, 27, whose bail application was rejected, faces 77 charges related to an alleged crime spree late last year.
He is accused of being part of a gang that planned to kill a member of the controversial rap group OneFour and attempted to steal $1 billion worth of cocaine.
The criminals had allegedly carried out extensive surveillance of members of the rap group as part of the plot, police said in January.
OneFour has long been the subject of police attention for its music, which focuses on western Sydney gang subcultures and includes lyrics that frequently mention violence.
In 2019, they were forced to cancel a national tour after venues could not meet safety requirements demanded by police.
Maseuli’s lawyer, Ertunc Ozen SC, said his client should be granted bail because he will spend a long time behind bars before his trial.
But a police report said Maseuli “is a very serious risk to the community” and began planning the theft of $1 billion worth of drugs on the same day he was granted bail on another kidnapping charge.
Police foil an alleged murder plot against members of prominent Sydney rap group OneFour (pictured)
Maseuli was one of six people involved in the drug-laden T-shirt plot, the court heard.
Police allege that Maseuli and Charlton Schaafhausen (who has also been charged) extracted the drugs and were coached over phone and video calls by Anthony Pele and two other “unknown persons.”
Pele lives overseas and police want to question him over a shooting death in western Sydney.
Maseuli will appear at Campbelltown Local Court on June 12.