'Uncle Fish Fillet' jailed over international tobacco and meth ring
It was text messages between Ocean, Uncle Fish Fillet and Brother Two that brought undone an illegal tobacco smuggling enterprise and methamphetamine ring.
For eight months, Tunqiang Yu and two Chinese nationals created a drug empire on the streets of Melbourne, illegally importing more than $1 million worth of cigarettes through shipping containers between China and Port Phillip Bay, hidden inside plastic flooring.
A further 6.24 kg of pure methamphetamine, also known as ice, was also uncovered as part of sweeping Federal Police raids across Melbourne’s east in 2017.
While Yu’s in-laws – Ocean and Brother Two – fled Australian shores before they too could be arrested, on Friday Yu, 55, was sentenced in the County Court to more than 11 years' jail.
"You’ve had a long wait to learn your fate," Judge John Carmody said.
"A term of imprisonment is the only appropriate sentence for your offending."
The court heard that between May 2016 and February 2017, and while authorities listened in, Yu and two others discussed the importation and storage of the drugs and smokes via telephone and encrypted communication.
At the time Yu was living with his wife and young daughter in Koonung Road, Blackburn North, and effectively working as a warehouse distributor at wholesale level, at times hiring a rental truck from Budget Rentals and moving the large boxes of cigarettes between storage facilities in the Box Hill area.
On February 4, 2017, police raided a shipping container as it arrived at the Port of Melbourne where they uncovered 750,000 foreign cigarettes hidden inside kitchen cabinets and plastic flooring.
A second shipping container was searched on February 11, where a further 718,000 illegally imported cigarettes were also found.
At a storage unit on Lexton Road in Box Hill North, and a home on Bayley Grove in Doncaster, more tobacco was seized – with a total value of more than $1 million.
From January 27 to February 2, 2017, the syndicate was found with 6.244 kg of pure methamphetamine hidden in various locations. Police said it had been smuggled into the county inside wax that had then been concealed within the floorboards.
It represented more than eight times the minimum commercial trafficking level.
Close to $20,000 in cash was also seized as the proceeds of crime.
“Another two men ... including your brother-in-law … are responsible for the importation of those drugs [ice],” Judge Carmody said.
The court heard that police began monitoring the trio’s communications using listening devices and telephone intercepts on January 15, 2017, including while Yu spent time in Ballan in NSW.
There, he was heard discussing the movement of the drugs, with his brother-in-law declaring that Yu would “fix everything”.
Federal surveillance officers then spied large boxes, later found to contain the imported floorboards, inside the garage of Yu’s home.
The court heard Yu had emigrated to Australia in 2007 and worked in the kitchen of a NSW restaurant before moving to Melbourne with his wife and first daughter to be closer to medical treatment facilities.
His role in the syndicate was later labelled in court as being "that of a garbage man", transporting and removing the illegal substances.
In his sentencing, Judge Carmody said his job was to "denounce the criminal conduct".
"Sentencing must be sufficiently severe to offset the lure of easy profit," he said.
"It is most likely that you will be deported to China [upon release]."
"Your prospects of rehabilitation [are] guarded."
Yu pleaded guilty to illegally importing tobacco and trafficking a large commercial quantity of methamphetamine.
He must serve at least eight years and six months behind bars before being eligible for parole.