Precis

Australians are the highest per capita users of cocaine in the world.

We're taking more than ever and we're paying top dollar for it too – among the highest prices globally.

While police around the country celebrate big busts, the rivers of white continue to flood in, and out to market.

So, who is behind the booming trade?

This week on Four Corners, reporter Mahmood Fazal speaks with the people involved in the cocaine supply chain, lifting the lid on the shadowy underworld.

With unprecedented access to traffickers, importers, street dealers and high-ranking cartel operatives who break their code of silence, Fazal reveals the highs, the lows and the very real dangers the movement of illicit drugs in Australia poses.

4 Corners animated logo

Music

00:00

Episode intro. Cocaine being chopped into lines and snorted

00:12

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: Cocaine is going through the biggest boom in Australia's history. We use more of it per capita than any other country.

00:16

Cocaine being weighed and put into small plastic bags

And we're willing to pay for it.

00:26

"THE DOOR": Australia' s the most expensive country in the world for cocaine. It's the most expensive country in the world.

00:33

Large block of cocaine being removed from plastic bag

It's an illicit economy, regulated by violence.

00:38

Two handguns on a mobile phone

STREET DEALER: For a clean one you're looking at anywhere from say 18 to up to 28 grand depending on what it is for a handgun, clean.

00:43

Cocaine being snorted

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: Cocaine can be dangerous; almost 400 users have died in the last five years.

00:48

Police breaking down door

00:56

Police drug seizure videos

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: As police celebrate big seizures…

COL BLANCH, WA POLICE COMMISSIONER: We're estimating the value to be around billion dollars.

01:00

Airport planes taking off

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: ...the people who are part of the cocaine supply chain tell a different story...

01:06

Drug dealer opening door wearing Mexican Day of the Dead mask

STREET DEALER: Come in.

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: One we're rarely given access to.

01:11

Fazal with drug dealer

None of the people you see in this investigation have spoken to the media before. From the retailers…

BENJAMIN AITKEN: When I was actually getting photos of bricks, I realised I'd really sort of shifted into a different level.

01:17

Masked man smoking

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: …all the way up to the highest-level traffickers.

"JASON": There's so many bricks out there.

01:32

Bricks of cocaine

Just what's on that plate could get me five or six years.

01:37

Police showing drugs they've intercepted from Mexico

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: They tell me Latin American cartels like Sinaloa have infiltrated their local game.

01:42

"The Door" interview

"THE DOOR": They got staunch men, they got the hitmen here and they got their soldiers, their foot soldiers and they got their business guys, counting everything for them. They'll wipe you off the fuckin' Earth. They'll make you disappear, you'll just go.

01:49

Elbatoory interview

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW CRIME COMMISSION: Do we monitor them? We try our best to do so.

01:58

Fazal with "Jason"

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: And the people they sell to aren't who you'd expect.

02:01

"JASON": From judges to cameramen, everyone's on it. I've personally seen judges take it with a glass of single malt.

02:06

STORY TITLE: COCAINE NATION

Music

02:11

train going through level crossing in Melbourne, and Fazal driving

02:22

MAHMOOD FAZAL, REPORTER: I'll just turn off on the next street.

02:48

Fazal driving. Super:
MAHMOOD FAZAL

So, I'm on my way to meet with a street dealer who's been running drugs across the country since he was in his early 20s. And he's been doing it for roughly eight years now. He's really anxious, he really didn't want to meet us.

02:51

Driving in carpark

Music

03:08

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Drug dealers generally don't like speaking to journalists.

03:16

Fazal out of car and getting camera out of bag

03:21

It's also hard to verify what they say.

03:26

Fazal testing headphones and camera

"Just test this..."

MAHMOOD FAZAL: But what you'll hear in this story stacks up with the public record.

"Rule number one – turn the mic on."

...and with what my underworld sources have told me...

" Yo, yo, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6"

03:31

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Before I was a journalist I was involved in the criminal world, and for full disclosure I was a member of an outlaw motorcycle club. It allows me to forge relationships with people who are also involved in that world. And they trust me with their stories, because they know I've experienced the same things they've experienced, in some capacity in the past.

03:49

Cool – it's all good. I'll head off because it's all good if he's late but it's no good if I'm late.

04:17

Fazal walks through carpark

MAHMOOD FAZAL: The dealer insists I show up alone. I don't know what to expect.

04:27

Fazal knocking on door, which is opened by a man wearing a Mexican skull mask

STREET DEALER: Hey bro how are you? Come in…

04:37

TEXT: Anonymous, The Street Dealer

Music

04:42

Fazal and Street Dealer in apartment

STREET DEALER: Come in bro'. So, we're just waiting for my main supplier to come and drop off what I need.

04:45

MAHMOOD FAZAL: He still needs to stock up for the weekend...

04:53

STREET DEALER LOOKING AT MOBILE PHONE: We've got probably, roughly, a quarter K there.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And offers to show me some videos.

04:56

Footage on mobile phone of large amount of cocaine being weighed

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And you send that to people?

STREET DEALER: Yeah, send that to people. So take a quick video of it on Snapchat. Send it to a fair few on there. I usually use Wickr and Signal. Let everybody know we're around for the week.

05:01

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And how much would that cost?

STREET DEALER: Anywhere from 64 up to 76 grand worth right there.

05:10

Dealer putting Panadol on a plate and crushing them with a bottle

MAHMOOD FAZAL: The dealer often makes fake coke with crushed up Panadol and hairspray.

STREET DEALER: Mix it up. And when you see it's a little bit clumpy like that, that means it's ready to go.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: He uses it to cut his cocaine – diluting it to maximise his profits – but sometimes he just bags the fake coke and sells it to people he doesn't know, for $350 a gram.

05:18

Dealer crushing mixture to a fine powder in plastic wrap

STREET DEALER: One last time.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: It's a good little ad for Chanel Blue.

STREET DEALER: [Laughs] Yeah, it's my favourite perfume.

05:45

Dealer shows fake cocaine

Open it up carefully. And you can have a close look. It clumps into rock form, pretty easily. Break it up, simple like that, bag it up, looks just like cocaine.

06:00

Dealer shows a large quantity of cocaine on his mobile phone

On this encrypted app, this guy just messaged me here.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Things can be pretty hectic at this end of the supply chain. Someone's offering high quality ounces of cocaine for a suspiciously low price.

06:14

STREET DEALER: So, I can tell he's probably trying to rip me but we're going to do him one over before he can get us.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: So he's hatching a plan for an associate to pull a gun and steal the coke.

06:26

MAHMOOD FAZAL: So how would he take it off him?

STREET DEALER: Sits in the car, has a chat with you, builds the trust a little bit. Then just pulls out a gun when he least expects it and goes, 'Give me everything now'. Pretty simple.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: So, do you have to have a gun on you?

STREET DEALER: I've got two at the moment myself.

10:06

Video of handguns on mobile phone

MAHMOOD FAZAL: So how much did they cost?

STREET DEALER: For a clean one you're looking at anywhere from say 18 to 28 grand depending on what it is for a handgun, clean. Dirty, you can buy them for 4-8 depending on who it is and how dirty they are. These ones have been used a fair bit though.

06:48

You can get killed in a day. You can get shot anytime. Set up by people. I guess when you've been doing it for a while there's no option. It just becomes habit, I guess. You just have to do it, you just have to man up and do it.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: He says he inherited a violent streak from his father who was in the Chilean army.

08:08

Dealer interview

STREET DEALER: His job was to go in and start shooting people who didn't vote for the president, Pinochet at the time.

07:24

MAHMOOD FAZAL: The problem is, this dealer also has a huge cocaine habit.

07:30

How much is your habit costing you?

STREET DEALER: Four or five grand a week. You can fuck your life up pretty quick. Thinking people are trying to set me up. Causing a lot of fights and arguments in my relationships, friendships. Yeah it's just a downhill spiral. But you just love the feeling so much you just keep doing it.

07:34

Fazal into car, and driving

07:53

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I think he needs to be a drug dealer in order to feed his habit. But I also think that the habit is what's making him make really violent decisions. He was so kind of trigger happy to create enemies and rip people off in a highly dangerous and volatile environment. At that level, kind of drug suppliers on the street, it always feels as though they've got everything to gain, and everything to lose.

08:06

Dealer adjusts his collar and looks at camera

08:44

Fazal on laptop in hotel room

08:52

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Dealing coke on the streets, a lot of people wind up dead or in jail. That's not the only way it can go. Some people use drug dealing to escape the bad hand life deals them.

08:58

Fazal to camera

This morning, I'm going to introduce you to a former cocaine dealer we'll call Remy. They have an extraordinary personal story about slinging cocaine across western Sydney, from the age of 12.

09:13

Fazal meets "Remy"

Music

09:37

TEXT: "Remy", The Corporate Dealer

"REMY": Nice to finally meet you.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Pleasure.

"REMY": I've got you some nice wheels, driver, take you to a few spots around Sydney, tell you some stories, show you some things.

09:46

Fazal in car with "Remy"

MAHMOOD FAZAL: What does all of this mean to you - rolling around in a car like this, living in a leafy North Shore suburb, considering how you grew up?

"REMY": It means everything. It wasn't meant to turn out this way.

10:06

MAHMOOD FAZAL: A lot of people watching this might be surprised that a woman was so heavily involved in the drug world.

10:20

"REMY": Yeah, I mean crazy thing is, it's actually a lot more common than people would think and not the types of girls you'd always assume.

10:27

Driving shots , Mt Druitt. "Remy" outside childhood home

Music

10:37

"REMY": This is actually the first place I moved out from my mum and my stepdad. They found out when I was about 12 that I was gay. it was his literal words - "Pack your shit and get out. You're no child of mine."

10:57

Fazal and "Remy" cross road, walk to church

MAHMOOD FAZAL: For a while, she was living on the streets, but then she met her first business mentor.

11:16

"REMY": First place that I ever did sell drugs was a building right next door to a church.

11:26

I met a lady in Church Street in Parramatta, just up the road. She gave me an opportunity to make money and said, "Hey, I can change all this for you". Gave me my front. Essentially, a bunch of drugs that I didn't have to pay for until I'd earned the money to be able to repay her and then some. There was three corners that we had around this block, and everybody knew where to come to.

Fazal and "Remy" walk across park towards McDonalds

As a teenager, I thought I knew everything, didn't know about people having turf here and there. Apparently, I was stepping on somebody's toes and selling on their turf. Walk across the road there. There's two girls who were probably in their 40s, I was 14 years old. I've got jumped by both of them and actually got stabbed four times in total.

11:51

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Even though she was a staunch street kid, behind the bravado, Remy was terrified.

12:14

"REMY": I had a gun rammed into my mouth so hard, I had an already sort of chipped tooth in the back of my mouth, knocked that tooth clean out of my mouth.

12:23

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Hearing stories like that, most people would think, why would you keep going?

12:32

"REMY": The money's an addiction. The lifestyle's an addiction. You can have girls that you want. You can have nice shiny things that you want. You can have all the things that you're told that you can't have. I drive past my old high school and laugh all the time, because not one of the teachers that told me I wouldn't be shit is in a car half as nice as mine, not even half as nice. So it's an ego thing.

12:39

Sydney skyline, Central rail

Music

12:57

Traffic and pedestrians around Sydney Central Station

Music

13:00

"Remy" walks with Fazal to Hibernian House

"REMY": So this next place I'm about to show you, it's called Hibernian House.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: In her late teens, she began living a double life. She took a 9-5 sales job, which put her in touch with the wealthy professionals fuelling the coke boom.

"REMY": I thought I'd bring you guys here so you could check this out.

13:10

Graffiti-covered hallways

MAHMOOD OFF CAMERA: This place is wild.

13:27

MAHMOOD FAZAL: "Remy" operated a trap house, a place where drugs are dealt, deep in the guts of this building, next to Sydney's Central Station.

13:40

"Remy" and Fazal into trap house

"REMY": This door made me a lot of money over the years. I realised that working in the corporate world and cocaine, really worked well together. It opened a whole new client market for me. So for most days I was sat here, doing up deals on my lunch breaks, working out hours where I'd see clients.

13:48

So, I started to meet more professionals, started to network, go for the after-work drinks, hang out with the managing directors, meet their managing director friends, some of the biggest coke heads I've ever met.

14:08

There were work events where, just at a work event alone, you could turn over 15 K. I just see dollars, dollars, dollars. That's another street thing. So for me, I'm very, very money focused because it's about changing our narrative and our generational wealth and I've been able to do that in a legitimate way now. And transfer what wasn't the greatest of lifestyles, into a pretty good life.

14:19

"Remy" and reporter exiting graffiti covered elevator

Music

14:41

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Breaking the cycle didn't happen quickly, or smoothly.

14:47

"Remy" and Fazal walk along the side of a house at night

By the time she was in her early twenties she knew she wanted out, but the fast money was hard to give up.

14:51

"REMY": The highs are a super peak of dopamine, where you get this super rush. You feel invincible. You've got all this money. But you can have 100 grand one night and be $250,000 in debt the next week. Like that.

15:01

"Remy" on train

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How does that happen? How do you blow money like that?

"REMY": Try taking 20 girls, 15 girls to a club. Bottle service upon bottle service. That's still one of the cringiest things I've ever done, I think, is spend close to $100,000 in a strip club, throwing money.

15:21

"Remy" walks, Martin Place. Into building, up escalator

Music

15:40

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How long were you juggling your day job with drug dealing?

15:44

"REMY": That went on for about five to eight years, where I was actually working and doing that stuff. But it got to a point where I had to make a decision. It was one way or the other. Being able to step away from that much money and go, "Is it worth it long-term?" is a question that you eventually have to ask yourself. Do you want to live a life of crime and potentially be in and out of jail your whole life and dealing with scumbags your whole life? Or do you want to be up there soaring and actually be doing the things that you know can be doing?

Inner city Melbourne street

16:27

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Drug dealers describe their business as "the game". Not everyone gets to decide when the game's up.

16:34

Art gallery crowd

Music

16:40

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I've come to an art gallery opening in Richmond, in inner-city Melbourne, curated by five time Archibald prize finalist, Benjamin Aitken.

16:50

Aitken talking with artist and patrons

BENJAMIN AITKEN: I thought this is the best spot for it.

ARTIST: Yeah, it looks beautiful, thank you.

16:59

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Just over a year ago, he experienced a spectacular fall from grace.

17:04

Jon Cattapan making speech at gallery

JON CATTAPAN: One of the great things about Ben Aitken is that although, and I don't think it's any great secret, he has been and can be a wayward child, he is a fantastic artist. Thank you, Ben.

17:13

Aitken interview

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How prevalent is cocaine in the art world?

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Very. Very prevalent.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And how do you know that?

17:32

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Because I used to sell to a lot of people at events similar to this, quite regularly.

17:42

Aitken, slow motion, in gallery

Music

17:48

TEXT: Benjamin Aitken, The Art Dealer

18:06

Fazal walking in the city, entering apartment building

18:08

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I've met a few people in the game like Ben, who start off with everything and lose it all.

18:17

Fazal knocking on Aitken's door, into apartment

18:23

BENJAMIN AITKEN OPENS DOOR: Hey, bro.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Ben.

BENJAMIN AITKEN: What’s going on? Welcome brother.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: It's a cool space.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: This is the first time he's spoken publicly

18:26

Aitken and Fazal sit, look at police evidence file

about his cocaine dealing.

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Do you want to take a seat with me, mate?

MAHMOOD FAZAL: What have you got to show us?

BENJAMIN AITKEN: So, here I've got my brief of evidence from the Victorian police.

18:39

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Based on what police found at Ben's apartment in 2021, he was charged with trafficking drugs and other offences.

18:53

BENJAMIN AITKEN: The cocaine I was arrested with was at 74%.

19:03

This was found in the cupboard.

19:08

There's some 12 gauge bullets. And then they found, upstairs they found a bill counter.

19:12

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How much money did you put through this machine?

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Countless. $50,000 to $80,000, $100,000 at a time.

19:19

Music

19:32

Aitken painting

MAHMOOD FAZAL: When Ben lost a job during the pandemic, his dealing took off, and he started supplying other dealers.

19:38

BENJAMIN AITKEN: When I was actually getting photos of bricks and seeing bricks, like kilos, that was probably when I realised I'd really sort of shifted into a different level. I always, in the back of my mind, knew that there's a really good chance that I could go to jail.

19:45

Melbourne Magistrate's Court

Music

20:08

Aitken walking to court

20:12

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Police realised Ben wasn't a low-level trafficker, because his cocaine was so pure. He was only a couple of steps away from the importer. Instead of putting Ben in the remand centre, he was sent to a maximum security prison.

BENJAMIN AITKEN: And they put you in that position to scare you.

20:15

Aitken interview at home

And they offer to help you, offer to drop charges if you give people up. I just said, "I can't give you anything. I don't have anything to say."

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Why do you feel the need to protect those people who were supplying you?

20:35

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Protecting them protects me as well. Either way, my life would be in danger. And in the drug world, you follow a code, you just don't give people up. And the more time you spend with criminals, or inside jail or rehabs, the more or this gets ingrained in you, and the more institutionalised you become to that code.

20:51

Aitken walking through laneway, waving at someone

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Ben spent over a month in jail, pleaded guilty, and was sent to rehab. His story was splashed all over the newspaper.

21:22

Aitken in laneway smoking vape

As a child, he was a victim of sexual assault and he's recently been diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression. He now takes prescription drugs to mask the pain he used to treat with illegal ones.

21:36

Photos. Aitken partying

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Addicted to heroin on and off. Oxy, Xanax. You know, ice in the early days. Ketamine, prescription pills.

21:51

People walking outside Aitken's apartment

Music

22:05

Aitken interview at home

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Do you think there's a moral problem with being a drug dealer?

22:11

BENJAMIN AITKEN: I sort of justified it consciously by being like, "Well, if you're going to buy drugs, at least buy them from me because you know I'm going to look after you." I'd test everything myself. I would test every pharmaceutical with fentanyl test strips. I would explain dosages to everybody. As a user myself, I had that empathy for other people as well. That's the way I sort of justified it by being this ethical drug dealer.

22:21

I guess, if I'm completely honest, probably yeah, morally, dealing drugs is wrong.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: What made you come to that conclusion?

BENJAMIN AITKEN: Just now? Because I've seen it affect people's lives. Yeah.

23:06

Planes taking off at Sydney Airport

Music

23:35

Containers

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Australia is a tough market for cocaine importers - an island nation with protected borders. The key to getting it through is the "the Door". They're often the most elusive, vulnerable and prized members of a drug syndicate.

23:55

Fazal driving near airport

We've actually managed to set up an interview with a Door this morning. It's incredibly rare access. This guy is well-known in underworld circles throughout Sydney. He's been dealing, distributing and importing cocaine over several decades. He's going to meet us here at Brighton Le Sands, just across the bay from Sydney airport, where he actually worked for a number of years, and he's going to talk us through what that operation looked like when he was there. I'm going to meet up with him now.

24:15

"Which one was the heroin plane?"

24:56

Fazal walks with "The Door"

"THE DOOR": Vietnam Airways. Vietnam Airways is heroin, you got the United that used to bring coke, and Argentina's Aerolíneas…

24:58

TEXT: "THE DOOR"

25:05

Air India used to bring in heroin as well and ice.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: "The Door" is a well-connected figure in the Australian underworld. He's also a member of an outlaw motorcycle club.

25:08

Fazal and the door sit on park bench

"So, this is your old stomping ground."

MAHMOOD FAZAL: What's your role in the cocaine supply chain?

25:19

"THE DOOR": Mate, I was a door. I was a door in the airport, and an employee at the airport as well so I was the door at the airport.

25:27

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And what does that mean?

"THE DOOR": I was organising the coke coming through the airport, helping it get out of the airport. Using my access to the airport as a way to get everything out.

25:36

I was a supervisor.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And how would that work?

"THE DOOR": We had swipe cards.

25:50

So we knew which gate to go through and what time to go through. Go through and you got a backpack on or whatever you have on. And you swipe it through. Or sometimes you get one of the supervisors to drive you out with the car, which they never used to get checked. And you can have a boot full of everything and you used to just drive straight out into the main road and meet someone like in the next suburb.

25:54

Archival. Arrests at airport for smuggling drugs

26:17

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Before he was forced out of the airport, he sometimes brought in as much as 15 kilos every two or three days.

26:21

"The Door" watching planes

His fee would be 30% of the product - which amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars per shipment for him and the other airport staff he was corrupting.

26:28

"THE DOOR": These guys aren't gangster, these guys are actually all guys that were working on a low income. Lot of gamblers, a lot of guys love the poker machines. And these are the easiest guys to grab on board because if you're earning yourself 800 bucks a week, and then you throw them an extra two to three thousand dollars… mate, they'll sell their mothers for it.

26:41

GVs around airport

Music

27:02

Interview on park bench

MAHMOOD FAZAL: The people that you were working for? Who were they?

27:11

"THE DOOR": The people we were working for, we had a middleman, but they were actually for the Colombians and the Mexicans. And they were fucking ruthless too, mate. You could tell they meant business. We have a cartel in Australia as well. It's either Mexicans or Colombians, they're here to watch all their product coming into the country. When you're bringing in, when there's a hundred, two hundred kilos coming in, and it's worth four times the amount it's worth over there… They want, they got people based here to just watch all this stuff coming in and out. Make sure they don't get ripped off. They got staunch men, they got the hitmen here and they got their soldiers, and their foot soldiers and they got their business guys, counting everything for them. But not everybody will ever see these guys. Not everybody. I've met them through the middleman. But he's actually on the run overseas now too.

27:14

MAHMOOD FAZAL: He's referring to a senior member of an Australian syndicate. He won't say who they are.

28:02

So, the middleman wasn't Colombian or Mexican.

"THE DOOR": The middleman wasn't a Colombian, was Middle Eastern.

28:09

MAHMOOD FAZAL: And he was dealing with them directly?

28:15

"THE DOOR": Yep. He was he was in Australia, but he was basically based overseas based over in Dubai, or he'd be in Turkey. So he'd be going back and forth. But he'd come in Australia and you'd meet up and then he'd go back out again.

28:18

MAHMOOD FAZAL: "The Door" says his relationship with the cartel was straightforward until he got greedy. He cut their cocaine and then accused them of ripping him off with low grade product.

28:30

"THE DOOR": And they said okay, well we're going to meet up here. So it's about eight o'clock at night and they came and met me in the street, in a dark street, five cars pulled up and...they meant business. Their boss walked up to me, the commander, and he goes to me, "Remember these words. I never give shit and I'll never give shit. I'm gonna replace it to you one time only, next time I won't be replacing, OK? You know what I'm talking about." So, in other words just telling me, "Fuck me again and I'm going to fuck you up". They'll wipe you off the fuckin' Earth and they'll go somewhere else. When I mean wipe you off the Earth I mean, they will make you disappear. You'll just go.

28:42

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Your position as a door gives you a lot of leverage, though. Like, you're really important to their business structure. Didn't they care about that?

29:22

"THE DOOR": They do care about that but their business guys. The cartel will always find somebody. They will always find somebody. There are Immigration people. There are people in Customs who on the payroll. I can't say who they are. I don't know who they are. But I guarantee they're on the payroll because some things come through the airport as a palette and they get put through, and on the ports as well.

29:32

Planes at airport

In other words, it's not just one person they've got. They've got a syndicate in probably in every state. On every airport, in every port.

29:59

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Do you have any regrets?

30:10

Interview on park bench

"THE DOOR": I do have regrets. Mate, I was losing a mate - honestly, you think I'm bullshitting, every week, every two weeks, I was going to a funeral. The only person is gonna be sitting there crying is your mother and I put my mother through hell and back. And if I can go back and change stuff just to make my mother happy again, I'll be going back but, khalas, I took that path. And it's my choice and I have to live with it.

30:12

Fazal walking, Central Station, Sydney

Music

30:48

Fazal to camera on escalator

MAHMOOD FAZAL ON ESCALATOR TO CAMERA: Over the past few months I've been speaking to people working across the Australia's cocaine supply chain, but I wanted to speak to someone whose job it is to disrupt that supply chain, and arrest drug dealers.

30:55

Fazal walks to Crime Commission HQ

31:09

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I'm visiting the New South Wales Crime Commission, the state's most powerful and secretive law enforcement agency.

31:14

Fazal meets with Elbatoory

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: Hey Mahmood, pleased to meet you.

31:23

TEXT: Hany Elbatoory, Investigations Director, NSW Crime Commission.

31:26

MAHMOOD FAZAL: His own migrant background gives him a nuanced view of crime. Hany Elbatoory grew up in southern Sydney at the same time as some of Australia's most wanted drug traffickers.

31:29

Elbatoory interview

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Why do you think people get involved in dealing or trafficking cocaine?

31:41

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: Why you would get into selling cocaine, is it's full of profit. Why does someone fall into crime more generally? Disadvantage, without a doubt.

31:47

MAHMOOD FAZAL: You would've seen this firsthand.

31:56

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: I mean, growing up, I grew up amongst the migrant community and I saw myself how some of the kids came to school were very, very poor. They had no hope at actually getting ahead in school. But having said that, not everybody that gets involved in crime is necessarily from a disadvantaged background. I've seen that from myself over many years.

31:58

Archival. Drug bust

NEWS ARCHIVE: "Federal police allege there's five and a half million dollars' worth of cocaine hidden inside these television camera battery units."

32:17

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How has the cocaine business changed over the last two decades?

32:26

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: I recall around about the Olympics, the price of cocaine was between 120 to $150,000 a kilo.

32:31

Elbatoory interview

And if you consider today that the price of cocaine is between 250 to $300,000 a kilo, you can see demand for cocaine has increased greatly. The profit margins are astronomical. So, any conflict surrounding the sale of it and the profits will be intensified naturally.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: We've been told by sources that Latin American cartels have a presence here in Australia.

32:38

Is that true?

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: In my experience as an investigator, yes. They can come here. And they do have a presence here. Yes.

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Can you tell us anything more about their presence here in Australia?

33:04

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: I don't have any specific information. But definitely, do members of cartels from any kind of group, whether it's from Eastern Europe or South America or the Middle East, do they come to Australia? Certainly, they do. Do we monitor them? We try our best to do so.

33:18

Archival. Scott Morrison, Press Conference

SCOTT MORRISON, Former Prime Minister: Today, the Australian Government as part of a global operation has struck a heavy blow against organised crime...

33:35

News and police footage from police raids

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Three years ago police targeted a so-called Aussie Cartel of nine drug traffickers. The government believed they were responsible for about 30 per cent of all drug importations, worth billions of dollars. But even the biggest police victories are short-lived. Between November and February this year, authorities seized about seven-and-a-half tonnes of cocaine, destined for local users. That's about three tonnes more than the previous annual record, in just four months.

33:46

Coster Press Conference

ANDREW COSTER, NZ Police Commissioner: We believe there was enough cocaine to service the Australian market for about one year.

34:22

News footage, cocaine bust

NSW Police officer: Last week we saw three tonnes of cocaine seized ...

34:26

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Major cocaine traffickers in three states tell me that wholesale cocaine prices are now falling – a sure sign that there's more cocaine in Australia than ever.

34:32

Police footage, divers

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: The New South Wales Crime Commission identifies four operatives involved in organised crime.

34:43

Elbatoory interview

The financiers who provide the capital, the entrepreneurs -- I guess they're the leaders, the ones that are running the show -- the professionals, who deviate from their code of ethics to support these illegal activities, and the criminals who execute the crimes. Most efforts were successful only against those who executed and less successful against the professional facilitators, the financiers and the big bosses that are running it.

34:49

MAHMOOD FAZAL: So, are they still operating one step ahead?

HANY ELBATOORY, NSW Crime Commission: Often, they'll have the access to the best technologies and they'll be the most organised.

35:22

Fazal on train, up escalator

Music

35:32

MAHMOOD FAZAL: People say crime doesn't pay, that it always ends badly, but that's not necessarily true.

35:44

Rainy Melbourne GVs

Music

35:51

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I know of serious drug dealers who are clean cut businessmen with children in private schools, offshore accounts and a portfolio of legitimate businesses.

35:54

Fazal writing notes at table

MAHMOOD FAZAL: I've finally landed an interview with someone at the top of the cocaine supply chain - a large scale commercial trafficker. There is a knock at the door.

36:04

Fazal opens door

He's been doing it for more than 30 years, and has never been caught. He's sent someone ahead, to sweep the place for bugs.

36:19

man in black wearing balaclava, sweeps apartment

While he does reconnaissance in the neighbourhood to check that it's safe.

36:29

Music

36:35

MAHMOOD FAZAL: The trafficker is taking a huge risk meeting me like this.

36:46

Fazal and masked man to kitchen

MAHMOOD FAZAL: To minimise the danger, he won't let us keep an audio recording.

36:50

TEXT: "JASON", THE TRAFFICKER.

Fazal places plate on table

We've used a voice actor instead.

"JASON": OK, Mahmood… So, I brought something along to show you – have you got a plate I can put it on?

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Sure, one sec.

36:56

"Jason" puts block of cocaine on plate

37:14

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Wow the smell of that is strong!

37:21

"JASON": Smelling it from that distance, you know it's good. It's because they use petrol to process it, that's where the smell is coming from.

37:24

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How much coke is on that plate and how much is it worth?

"JASON": This particular cut is from the corner of a one kilo brick – it's about four or five ounces. I would say street value, this is 50 thousand.

37:30

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How do you determine the purity of a block of cocaine like this?

37:41

"JASON": When the bricks are compressed they break apart a certain way. If I break it open now, you can hear the sound, and really smell how pungent it is. It also has a particular sheen. A lot of people call that pearl, or fish-scale because of the way it flakes to a sharp point when it breaks apart - it's very scaly. The percentage is in the mid 80s. You don't really see anything in the 90s.

37:46

MAHMOOD FAZAL: With access to cocaine of this purity, what does it say about your role in the hierarchy?

38:06

"JASON": It generally means you have friends who are high up the ladder. To be truthful, I can't tell you where, because it would make it uncomfortable for the people I work with. There's an importer and a wholesaler. That's all I'll say.

38:13

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How do you source cocaine of this quality?

38:25

"JASON": With higher amounts, it's always done by introduction. You can't just walk up and ask for a kilo. You have to work your way up, until someone trusts you. At a certain level, there's heaps of paranoia - when we're dealing with the millions.

38:29

MAHMOOD FAZAL: In the media, the police line really has been that there's one major Aussie cartel that's responsible for importing the majority of the cocaine into Australia. What do you make of that?

38:42

"JASON": In the past, there were very big syndicates who controlled the airports and docks, but in general it's smaller groups of four or five people that work within the circle they trust. The cartel that you're talking about, their traditional lines were taken out by the encrypted apps that the police made - so there's new ways and different people in the scene.

38:52

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Authorities claim that peak annual consumption for cocaine sits around 5.6 tonnes - what do you make of that number?

39:09

"JASON": 5.6 tonnes? Some of the shipments that are getting in, it's probably not even half the amount. There's so many bricks out there. It just doesn't make sense. It's much higher than that.

39:18

"Jason" takes seat at table as Fazal brings coffee

I never really encountered violence in the cocaine industry. You pick and choose who you work with. The money's not worth getting shot. There are other people who enjoy that kind of violence. I prefer to deal with people over a cup of coffee.

39:28

Interview at table

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Really? That's surprising. What about all the violence we hear about in the news between different factions. Is that over cocaine or where does that stem from?

39:46

JASON: A lot of money can bring violence. Some of it is territory. But mainly it's personalities. Someone might say something - if they get offended, they'll shoot you. The most violent people generally, the people above them don't want that. It's always someone a bit lower, or it's families or clubs. Generally it's looked down on by everyone because it brings heat. But you also need to project strength.

39:56

Because when there's lots of money around there's, people that are very desperate out there who will try to rob you and sell you product that's cut down too much. If you use your street smarts you can usually see the problem before it happens.

40:17

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Have you ever had a gun pulled on you and can you tell us about any of those incidents?

40:27

"JASON": If someone pulls a gun on you, they're generally trying to scare you. If someone pulls a gun and they're going to use it, you won't see it.

40:32

MAHMOOD FAZAL: How does cocaine get into Australia?

40:39

"JASON": It's always hidden in a product: in food, farming equipment or musical equipment, it could be anything. In places like Bali or Fiji, cartels or big syndicates have paid officials off to look the other way so they can bring in suitcases full of cocaine by plane.

40:43

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Can you describe a bit about how your operation works?

40:57

"JASON": Most people only work with close-knit friends or family, usually around five people. or it's difficult to control people's habits. You want people who are willing to do the time for the amount of work they're doing. Other syndicates that have dial-a-dealers, like pizza deliveries, only last 5-6 months tops. They can't manage leaks in operations that big.

41:00

MAHMOOD FAZAL: What can you tell us about your clientele and the types of people you do business with?

"JASON": The demand for cocaine has skyrocketed - it grows every year.

41:19

All the people we're supposed to look up to are on it. We've sold to football players, professional athletes, lawyers, celebrities on tv, people in the media, medical field; surgeons, doctors, nurses, depending on what shift they're on. Sometimes I see people I sell to on TV and think wow. From judges to cameramen, everyone is on it. I've personally seen judges take it with a glass of single malt. It's a highly stressful job, they deal with a lot of shit and sometimes just want to have a laugh.

41:27

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Are you a trafficker, a businessman or a criminal?

41:53

"JASON": There's a business aspect to it, managing money. There's an obvious criminal element to it - just what's on that plate could get me five or six years. I know I'm a criminal per se, but I'm not an outlaw trying to rub it in the police's face.

41:58

MAHMOOD FAZAL: In this line of work, you must encounter disputes or disagreements with importers; how do you manage those disagreements? Because like you said, there's big personalities involved.

42:10

"JASON": The Middle Easterners, the Greeks, the Vietnamese, the Romanians, the Australians all have different styles. The Vietnamese are more family orientated, they almost see you as a cousin. The Australians are almost like a hippy-style, non-violent. Obviously there's a very violent side to some of the Australians too, but it depends where they come from. The Albanians, Iraqis and Afghans, their idea of solving a problem is to hurt you and they always have a lot of people.

42:24

Interview continues

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Can you tell us in general terms how lucrative your business is and what you do with the money?

42:49

"JASON": I go to the hookers and make it rain. Nah nah. In this industry we don't have super. I just want to make enough money so there's a point in time where I can just go off into the distance.

42:55

Block of cocaine, bagging up powder

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Jason's retirement will be funded by Australia's growing appetite for cocaine. With little interest in violent turf wars, sensational headlines or policy battles, many dealers and traffickers are getting on with the business of meeting record consumer demand. A demand that leaves in its wake a trail of blood and addicts from Latin America to Australia.

43:04

Music

43:35

"Jason" and his associate smoking in the courtyard

MAHMOOD FAZAL: Do you feel any responsibility or moral guilt with the negative aspects of dealing cocaine?

43:39

Interview at kitchen table

"JASON": If I can give you something that you want for a reasonable rate but good quality, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong. As long as I'm doing my part, I can sleep well.

43:48

"Jason" leaves

43:56

Credits [see below]

44:05

Outpoint

44:29