“‘The Mexican’, Bunnings eskis and fake cocaine: Why eleven people pleaded guilty to WA’s biggest drug bust

The plan was to pick up 30 bales of cocaine floating 40 nautical miles off the Perth coast for “the Mexican.” But an audacious plot to smuggle a monstrous 1.2 tonnes of cocaine into WA turned into a fiasco involving two stranded vessels and a last-minute trip to Bunnings for eskis to carry $300 million worth of drugs. Nearly three years after the State’s biggest drug bust, The West Australian can reveal new details behind a plot to bring 2.4 tonnes of cocaine to Australian shores which was foiled by an international police operation. Numerous suppression orders on the case have been lifted after the last member of the drug smuggling syndicate, Paul Anthony Masterson, 70, pleaded guilty on Monday on what was to be the first day of his trial for possession of a drug with intent to sell. His admission of guilt means The West Australian can now reveal that 11 people arrested for their involvement in attempting to smuggle and distribute worth of cocaine into Australia have all pleaded guilty. Five of those have already been sentenced for their involvement in the operation, including 58 year-old Neil Michael McGregor who was given nine years for his role recruiting Masterson as skipper as well as captaining one of the vessels himself. Court documents reveal 2.4tonnes of cocaine was on a vessel bound for Western Australia when it was intercepted by the US Coast Guard on November 18, 2022. The Coast Guard also seized GPS buoys and satellite communication devices which were then used by law enforcement to communicate with the onshore crew in Western Australia - who remained unaware the game was up. The US Drug Enforcement Administration told WA Police that half of the 2.4 tonnes of cocaine was headed to Perth. WA Police then switched the cocaine for Plaster of Paris wrapping them in identical packaging. “The bales of the product were tethered together with rope, floatation buoys and GPS buoys, and police tracking devices were inserted into the bales to monitor their movement,” the court documents read, “Police activated the GPS buoys and activated a seized satellite communication to alert the unknown suspects as described at that time, that the delivery had occurred.” Over the next two days, police say they observed the shore party make three trips out to sea in the boat, Catalina, which was being skippered by Masterson, in rough conditions. During the failed attempts Masterson injured his back. The Catalina returned to Hillary’s boat Harbour where it became stranded at the refuelling wharf after the crew ran into difficulties moving it. The hapless smugglers then launched a second boat, Cool Runnings, to recover the drugs but it became beached south of Moore River, 70km north of Perth. Cool Runnings crew members Laban Joshua Toga Saininaivalu, 29, William Seru, 19, and Reremoana-Kahui Patrick Stanley, 2, were arrested by police on the beach who recovered some of the fake cocaine onboard. The following day police observed the Catalina, now recovered from the refuelling wharf, coming to rescue Cool Runnings, towing the vessel out to open water. The packages were transferred to the Catalina before Cool Runnings was sunk. The court documents state that, one crew member described as “Mr Bettaby”, “confirmed that 28 of the bales of the 30 had been recovered, and this information was recorded or relayed to a person who was described as, “the boss,” or, “the Mexican”. With the smaller vessel, Cool Runnings sunk the crew had to come up with another plan to discreetly transport 28 bales of cocaine through Hillary’s Boat Harbour. “An alternative arrangement had to be brokered…and Mr Robatuka attended at Bunnings... and purchased a number of blue eskies,” the court documents state. “The reason the eskies were purchased was so that they could be filled with the substitute product and moved without raising any suspicion, As the crew commenced transferring what they thought was cocaine from the Catalina police swooped arresting six including Masterson and McGregor. Raids were then executed across the city on New Year’s Eve — at hotels in East Perth, Perth, Scarborough, West Perth and Rivervale. Nine days later, still unaware that police had just locked up the nine accused men, another man allegedly flew to Perth from Sydney to pick up part of the cocaine — 200kg worth. That man, Kenny Chen, who was arrested at a property in Carlisle. Four days after that, on January 13, information received from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission led police to stop a car on the Great Eastern Highway near Coolgardie. It is alleged more than $2 million cash was found in the car, and a further two people — Tao Zheng, 39, and Qianqian Hu, 37, both of NSW, were arrested and charged with laundering money from proceeds of a major offence. Charges against Zheng were later discontinued. Judge Linda Black said she would sentence Masterson and several of his co-accused on Friday. She noted it was the “largest haul” of drugs that she had ever had to sentence people for. The maximum penalty for possession of cocaine with intent to sell is 25 years.