Ealing Man Charged With Smuggling Ecstasy in a Digger

X-rays revealed 450kg of drugs bound for Australia

X-rays were used to confirm where the drugs were hidden
X-rays were used to confirm where the drugs were hidden. Picture: NCA

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A man from Ealing is one of six men who have been charged after 450kg of MDMA was found hidden in an excavator that was shipped to Australia.

61-year-old Stefan Baldauf of Midhurst Road, Ealing has appeared in Kingston Crown Court charged with conspiring to export Class A drugs after a joint investigation between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).

On 15 March last year officers at the Port of Brisbane discovered the drugs hidden in a specially adapted boom of the excavator. It had been lined with lead to mask 226 packages of MDMA commonly known as Ecstasy concealed inside. Despite the attempt to conceal them the authorities were able to use X-ray technology to confirm where they were hidden.

After the drugs were removed, the excavator was delivered to its intended recipient in Sydney.

NCA investigators analysing encrypted messages obtained as part of Operation Venetic – the UK investigation into the EncroChat network – uncovered an alleged criminal conspiracy by a London-based crime group to export drugs in heavy plant machinery to Australia.

EncroChat messages sent between January and June 2020 detailed plans to purchase the excavator in the UK, hand-drawn illustrations of the concealment within the boom, costs relating to the importation and confirmation that it had been loaded onto a vessel in Southampton on 24 January which arrived in Brisbane seven weeks later.

Mr Baldauf has been remanded in custody to appear again on 16 April for a pre-trial hearing.

Two men aged 33 and 42 were also charged in Australia.

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April 14, 2021

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