INDUSTRY ALERT

The AFP is protecting Australians

As Australia’s national policing agency, the Australian Federal Police’s mission is to protect Australians and Australia’s interests. The AFP reduces criminal and security threats by preventing, deterring, disrupting and investigating crimes of Commonwealth significance such as: l Terrorism, espionage and foreign interference; l Transnational Serious and Organised

Crime (such as drug/firearms importations/trafficking, and money laundering); l Child Exploitation; l Fraud and Corruption; and l Cybercrime.

The AFP aims to develop strong relationships with private sector industries that are, due to the nature of their business activity, exploited by those involved in serious and organised criminal activity for financial gain. The self storage industry is one such industry.

This exploitation occurs through Organised Crime using the self storage facilities and services to distance themselves from criminal conduct. This can occur in the following ways: l Storage units are used for storing illicit goods, such as drugs, clandestine laboratory equipment, firearms, cash and hazardous chemicals; l Using concierge services offered by storage facilities, such as the collection of parcels and receiving delivery of shipping containers which contain illicit goods such as drugs; and l Undertaking criminal activity within the storage unit such as manufacturing counterfeit currency or false identity documents.

There is often key behavioural indicators which are present when people are engaging in Organised Criminal activity (see opposite). These may include one or multiples of the following: l Concern over security/privacy; l Nervous/evasive demeanour; l Vague/nonspecific answers regarding goods to be stored; l Vacating lease un-expectantly; l Access at strange hours or no access; l Paying in cash; l People other than the leasee accessing the unit; l Using foreign identity documents to lease the unit; l Online application; l Requesting use of the concierge service; l Delivery of shipping containers; l Unusual odours emanating from the unit; l Displaying disproportionate wealth for age; l Use of encrypted email accounts such as protonmail, hushmail, mailfence, tutanota and countermail; and l Young males aged 18-40.

Frequently, false identity documentation and contact details will be provided by criminals when signing a storage contract.

Don’t let Organised Crime Groups exploit you. You can protect your business, staff, assets and reputation by being alert to these suspicious behaviour indicators. Minimise your risk by partnering with us to disrupt, dismantle and combat serious and organised crime by reporting suspicions of criminal activity to Suspicious-behaviour@afp.gov.au.

CASE STUDY 1 – OPERATION JACARANDA

In early 2017, the AFP/Victoria Police conducted an investigation codenamed Operation Jacaranda into a transnational drug syndicate. During this investigation police located 869.2 kgs of methamphetamine or ‘Ice’ concealed within floorboards at a factory in Nunawading, Victoria. Additional investigations lead to the discovery of a self storage unit in Box Hill, Victoria, being used by the syndicate. A search warrant was conducted at the storage unit during which approximately 42 kilograms of ‘Ice’ was located. It was later established that the criminal syndicate were extracting the ‘Ice’ from the floorboards at a ‘drug safe house’ and transporting the drugs to the storage facility for safe keeping. At the time this was Australia’s largest ever seizure of Ice. l