Their headquarters were Redfern’s landmark TNT twin
towers, where extramarital conquests and drunken “happy hour” parties
were common.
It was the 1980s and, as one former officer of the
35-strong AFP Sydney drug investigation unit recalls, it was like “living
inside a grubby episode of Miami Vice”.
Memories of the heady days of the twin tower crew have
been revived because of the charges laid against one of the squad’s alumni,
senior NSW Crime Commission investigator Mark Standen.
Following his arrest on drug charges this month, insiders
have told The Sun-Herald some members of the unit were compromised and beyond
control.
Michael Anthony
Wallace – convicted of stealing $20 million worth of seized heroin in 1990 and
then of murdering girlfriend Zoe Zou and dumping her body in the Blue Mountains in 2006 – was one.
Another was Allan Gregory McLean, sentenced to 16 years’
jail for helping import millions in heroin from India hidden inside a consignment
of soccer balls in 1988.
Others were named at the NSW Wood Royal Commission over
filching $200,000 from a Sydney
cocaine dealer in 1983.
But with authorities infatuated with rogue NSW cop Roger
Rogerson, some of the officers went bad and started trafficking drugs, taking
bribes and ripping off crooks.
Ensconced on the lower floors of the TNT block, the unit
was run for a time by chief inspector Cliff Foster, who committed suicide after
a battle with depression in 2001.
It can now be revealed he had been under investigation for
supplying heroin and was linked to an organised crime syndicate shipping huge
amounts of hashish into Australia
from New Zealand.
In the days after charges were laid against Standen, AFP
Commissioner Mick Keelty was forced to deny claims that he and Standen worked
side by side at Redfern and were once daily jogging partners.
Standen, who left the AFP to join the Crime Commission in
1996, is now accused of trying to smuggle in by sea enough pseudoephedrine to
make $120 million worth of ice. He is due to face court again on August 6.
Mr Keelty said he and Standen had only ever been stationed
together at the AFP’s Sydney
city headquarters in Goulburn
Street.
They “might have been involved in some of the same
operations” but were not close.
Mr Keelty also said he was unaware Standen had admitted to
the 1982 Stewart Royal Commission that he once flushed 18 foils of cannabis
down a toilet instead of declaring it as evidence.
Former NSW detective turned University of Western
Sydney academic Michael
Kennedy said another member of the unit was allowed to take up a government job
after admitting to stealing a kilogram of seized heroin displayed at a media
conference.
Another detective resigned after being confronted with
allegations he was using and dealing cocaine. He eventually went to work for
standover man Tim Bristow, who died in 2003.
One-time head of AFP internal affairs Ray Cooper says
security at the TNT offices was a disgrace.
“Operational details were being leaked to the
crims,” Mr Cooper said. “As a result, I warned the hierarchy that we
needed to keep an eye out.”
Mr Cooper said his investigation into the Foster
allegations was taken from him and deliberately derailed to avoid a public
scandal.
He was denied permission to use phone taps and several
witnesses against Foster were kidnapped and threatened by other corrupt federal
detectives.
Wayne Sievers, who worked at the Redfern towers between
1983 and 1988, likened the experience to “living inside a grubby episode
of Miami Vice”.
“You were looking at a group, some of whom were
simply cowboys with huge egos, who were allowed to drive around town in fast
cars with guns, doing whatever they wanted.”
Mr Sievers said the same day he reported being offered
payola by a more senior officer he was transferred to non-operational duties.
Following a raft of AFP corruption claims at the Wood
Royal Commission, a federal inquiry chaired by Sydney barrister Ian Harrison was set up in
1996-97.
Mr Cooper gave evidence but has since criticised the
proceedings.
No public hearings were held and all findings were
classified. Dr Kennedy and Mr Sievers also testified but believe little was
achieved.
All three have called for the inquiry report to be opened.
Last week, NSW Supreme Court judge Harrison said it would
be inappropriate for him to comment.
Source: www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/06/21/1214009167400.html?feed=fairfaxdigitalxmlv
Related: Officers stand by claims of corruption in AFP