Some of the drugs seized.
Camera IconSome of the drugs seized. Credit: Supplied/WA Police

Massive WA drug haul ‘kingpin’ found in UK

AAPWestern Suburbs Weekly

MOVES are underway to extradite a UK man who police claim is the kingpin of a massive one-tonne drug haul found off the WA coast.

WA Police have already charged five men over the $1 billion seizure of methamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy from Burton Island, which is part of the Abrolhos archipelago, in September.

The shipment’s accused couriers, Frenchman Antoine Dicenta and British man Graham Palmer, were nabbed after a fisherman spotted them trying to hide in scrub.

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Burton Island.
Camera IconBurton Island. Credit: Supplied/Supplied

Their yacht had run aground about seven kilometres away near Stick Island and they fled in a dinghy.

The following week, US national Jason Dean Lassiter, Briton Scott Felix Jones and Angus Bruce Jackson from NSW were charged, accused of being “the shore party” who planned to distribute the drugs.

WA Police now say they have tracked down the organiser to the UK island of Jersey and he’s being held in custody by local authorities.

“We’ve already sent a few Western Australian police officers over to Jersey and the UK … that paperwork is going through now so we can extradite them,” acting commissioner Col Blanch told ABC radio on Thursday.

He said more arrests were expected.

“It’s about finding everyone involved in that network.”

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