The couple blocked a plan to import more than $820 million in drugs – FBC News

An American couple expected to get their share of $820 million when they arranged for a ton of methamphetamine and cocaine to be shipped to Australia.

But Nasser Abo Abdo, 57, and Leonor Fajardoa, 52, will instead spend time behind bars after their plan was foiled by US Homeland Security and Australian police.

In February 2019, US officials intercepted three containers that the couple had arranged to be shipped from California to Melbourne.

Inside the two containers were hundreds of boxes of car audio capacitors, which contained bags of methamphetamine and cocaine.

In total, US authorities seized 1,293 tons of pure methamphetamine and 15,794 kg of pure cocaine.

The street value of the drugs was more than $820 million.

American officers seized the drugs before sending the containers to Melbourne, which Australian police expect to be picked up by Abo Abdo and Fajardoa.

But instead the couple were arrested before the containers arrived after police became aware of their plans to travel abroad.

Sentencing the pair on Friday, Victorian District Judge Michael O’Connell said it was difficult to overstate the gravity of the offence.

“The value of drugs is hard to understand,” he said.

“Some more serious cases than this can be pointed to, but they are few and far between.”

Abdo Abdo and Fajardoa were speechless as they were sentenced to 21 years in prison and 14 years behind bars respectively.

But each has already spent more than five years in prison, meaning Abo Abdo could be eligible for parole in nine years and Fajardoa in three.

Each pair pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to import charge after receiving a sentencing instruction.

Judge O’Connell said Abo Abdo played a key role in the crime as he worked with a US syndicate and a Sydney-based crime syndicate to distribute drugs.

The 57-year-old even traveled with Fajardoa to Los Angeles to pack the containers himself.

“Although your role was not that of the main perpetrator, you were nevertheless a driving force,” Judge O’Connell said.

“You were going to make millions of dollars in this venture.”

Fajardoa played a lesser role but should still have understood that a significant amount of drugs were being imported, the judge said.

In sentencing, Judge O’Connell took into account that the couple had no previous convictions in Australia and the United States.

Their detention has also been made more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic, the distance from their children abroad and the weight of the sentences hanging over their heads.

But Judge O’Connell said it was important that the sentences deter would-be drug importers from committing such serious crimes.

“Potential positives from such an enterprise will be neutralized by the risk of severe punishment,” he said.

Conspiracy to import carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Australian and US authorities said at the time the drug haul was the largest ever to connect with Australia and the largest seizure in the US.

Australian Border Force Superintendent Ben Michalke said federal authorities remained committed to tackling organized crime.

“This historic seizure has prevented an unprecedented amount of meth from entering our communities,” he said.

“Our coordinated efforts are critical to identifying and disrupting criminal networks in their attempts to exploit our borders.”