A supervisor of the Australian Border Force could experience life behind bars if she is found to be guilty of alleging to smuggle $ 1.3 million cocaine.
Rita Gargiulo, 50, and Mount Pritchard Man Cosmo Commisso, 67, are accused of conspiracy to import 6.9 kg of cocaine into Australia.
Gargiulo was reportedly bribed by Commission with luxury items, including Burberry and Louis Vuitton Handbags and High dogs, in exchange for 'the safe passage of the package', the ABF will claim before the court.
In her role as supervisor at the Mascotbase of the ABF, Gargiulo was able to search for a load and rotate through internal systems to see if packages were marked.
Gargiulo and Commisso were arrested on Tuesday and accused of a series of bribery and smuggling elements, including help and the incentive of the import of border-controlled medicines that entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The ABF will claim that Commisso Gargiulo paid to provide information about a 'dummy' shipping of cosmetics that arrived from Malaysia in Australia on 21 February.
Gargiulo would then have given advice on and supervised the arrival of the cocaine package of 6.9 kg – an estimated street value of $ 1.3 million.
Commisso and Gargiulo reportedly exchanged flirty messages in the months prior to the alleged drug smuggling, seen in texts by the Daily Telegraph.
Rita Gargiulo, 50, is conceived as a supervisor on the ABF mascot
The police claimed that the 67-year-old Cosmo commission has ties to Sydney's underworld
Two other men, 25 and 48 years old, were also arrested and accused of an attempt to possess border -controlled medicines.
The charges come after the AFP has announced a new task force to focus specifically on officials who work as 'double agents'.
“We used to mention these alleged perpetrators trusted insiders,” said AFP deputy Commissioner Crime Ian McCartney.
“However, they really behave like double dealers by working on both parties.”
