Canadian, 2 US sailors get lengthy Australian prison terms for drug smuggling
06:26:07 EDT May 18, 2006
SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - A Canadian citizen and two U.S. navy sailors were handed lengthy prison sentences Thursday for attempting to smuggle methamphetamine into Australia stashed in the radar dome of a visiting warship.
Canadian Mehdi Mohammadi, along with Americans Daniel Maio, 36, and Andrew Labanon, 39, were sentenced at Townsville Supreme Court for their roles in the attempted importation of $760,000 US of the drug.
Prosecutors said Maio, a chief petty officer on the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer, left the crew some weeks before his arrest last July, but while on board he hid a blue bag containing three packages of methamphetamine in the ship's radar dome.
Maio had arranged to pay Labanon $10,000 to bring the drugs ashore when the Boxer was visiting Townsville, a port in northeastern Australia.
Justice Kerry Cullinane sentenced Maio, who changed his plea to guilty during his trial, to 12 and a half years and Labanon to six years.
Mohammadi, a Canadian born in Iran who lives in Australia, was sentenced to 14 years for serving as the local contact for the smuggling.
North Queensland Australian Federal Police operations manager Jason Byrnes said agents were delighted with the outcome.
"This is a great victory for the Australian Federal Police. We managed to intercept the ice before it hit the streets," he said.
A task force of more than 20 undercover federal police agents foiled the drug smuggling operation last June.
Agents tracked Maio and Mohammadi from Queensland state capital Brisbane to Townsville, where Labanon, who had just arrived in the city on board the USS Boxer, handed them the drugs before all three were arrested.
© The Canadian Press, 2006
USS Boxer
Two sailors from the ship USS Boxer, and a Canadian man living on Queensland's Gold Coast have been sentenced to jail for bringing seven kilos of the drug commonly known as 'ice' (methamphetamine), valued at about A$1 million, into Australia in June last year.

A court in Townsville, Queensland heard that seven kilograms of methamphetamine were hidden in the radar compartment of the USS Boxer. ABC radio reported that the drugs were taken ashore by sailor Andrew Labanon and handed to Chief Petty Officer Daniel Maio at a Townsville motel. Maio had arranged to pay Labanon $10,000 to bring the drugs ashore when the Boxer was visiting Townsville. Maio and a third man, Iranian-born Canadian Mehdi Mohammadi, attempted to travel to the Gold Coast before Australian police arrested them. 

Maio, changed his plea to guilty during the trial, and was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in jail, with a non-parole period of six years. Judge Kerry Cullinane sentenced Labanon to six years jail, He was ordered to serve at least three years before being eligible for parole. Mohammadi was given a sentence of 14 years, with a minimum non-parole period of seven years.

A task force of more than 20 undercover federal police agents intercepted the drug smuggling operation last June. Australian Federal Police (AFP) welcomed the jail terms. AFP spokesman Jason Byrnes said: "We've taken almost seven kilos of ice off Australian streets..." 

He said the Australian police were "very satisfied with the three convictions and this was another great example of federal police with Customs' support targeting main offenders of drug crime against Australia and Australians."