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🇦🇺 Australia /Crime & Justice

Irish national admits role in 'nightmare' plan to help alleged criminal flee Australia

From ABC Australia · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Documents & data Outcome reported
  • An Irish national, Stephen Frances Roche, pleaded guilty in Australia to attempting to pervert the course of justice in a million-dollar plot to smuggle a fugitive drug trafficker out of the country.
  • Roche drove the alleged trafficker, Hussein Chamas, to a remote Northern Territory beach where he was to be picked up by boat.
  • The plan was foiled when Australian Border Force officers intercepted the yacht carrying Chamas and two other foreign nationals, leading to Chamas's extradition and charges against the others.

An Irish national has pleaded guilty to his role in a sophisticated, million-dollar plot to help an alleged fugitive drug trafficker escape Australia. Stephen Frances Roche admitted in the NT Supreme Court to attempting to pervert the course of justice after facilitating the extraction of Hussein Chamas from a remote Northern Territory beach.

Operation HARRAKIS is an investigation into an organised criminal group who made arrangements to facilitate the covert removal of individuals from Australia who were the subject of ongoing criminal prosecution.

— Court documentsDescribing the nature of the investigation into the criminal syndicate.

Court documents reveal the elaborate scheme aimed to smuggle Chamas out of the country after he fled his bail accommodation in New South Wales in January. Chamas was on conditional release awaiting trial for charges related to an alleged conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of methamphetamine. He reportedly agreed to the escape plan through an "international syndicate" in exchange for $1 million.

The investigation identified a complex syndicate who operated covertly across multiple countries.

— Court documentsDetailing the international scope of the criminal organization.

The operation, codenamed "Operation HARRAKIS," targeted an organized criminal group involved in covertly removing individuals facing criminal prosecution from Australia. Syndicate members referred to Chamas as "the VIP." Roche's involvement included renting a campervan in Sydney and driving Chamas to Arnhem Land, near Nhulunbuy, for the planned boat pickup.

The syndicate members responsible for arranging the transport of CHAMAS from Australia referred to him as 'the VIP'.

— Court documentsHighlighting the perceived importance of the fugitive within the syndicate.

Australian Border Force officers intercepted a yacht carrying Chamas and two other foreign nationals, German Thomas Goertz and UK citizen Jade Siu Ying Ormiston, two days after they set sail from East Woody Beach. Chamas was apprehended and subsequently extradited to New South Wales. Goertz and Ormiston also face charges but have yet to enter pleas. Roche, communicating with syndicate members under codenames, reportedly complained about mounting expenses and described the operation as a "f***ing nightmare."

F***ing nightmare

— Stephen Frances RocheDescribing his experience during the escape attempt, as documented in court papers.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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