{"id":794,"date":"2018-11-25T21:34:59","date_gmt":"2018-11-25T21:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=794"},"modified":"2018-11-25T21:34:59","modified_gmt":"2018-11-25T21:34:59","slug":"png-national-gets-five-years-for-people-smuggling-and-four-years-for-drug-and-drug-precursor-importation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2018\/11\/25\/png-national-gets-five-years-for-people-smuggling-and-four-years-for-drug-and-drug-precursor-importation\/","title":{"rendered":"PNG national gets five years for people smuggling and four years for drug and drug precursor importation"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 19 November 2018, Papua New Guinean national Koloney Bama, 52, was sentenced to four years\u2019 imprisonment in the Cairns Supreme Court for multiple counts of trying to smuggle drugs and the drug precursor ephedrine into Australia. He was also sentenced to five years\u2019 imprisonment for one count of people smuggling.
\nOn 11 November 2015, Bama tried to smuggle what he thought was 500ml ephedrine liquid, 28 grams of cocaine powder, and 10 kilograms of cannabis by dinghy from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to Bamaga\u2014on the tip of Cape York in Queensland\u2014via the Torres Straits.
\nBut not long after entering Australian waters, Bama\u2019s outboard motor started playing up and he couldn\u2019t fix it. After numerous phone calls to his co-conspirator back in PNG\u2014an Australian called Aniba\u2014Bama rang 000 asking for help.
\nDuring the call, BAMA told the 000 operator that he was on a \u2018drug run\u2019 and had 12 kilograms of marijuana with him in the boat. He said he was looking for a market for his drugs and that Customs knew he was a drug runner and would know where he was.
\nShortly after making the phone call, Bama was able to restart the outboard motor and returned to PNG. On the way he threw the ephedrine and cannabis overboard and buried the cocaine on an island to prevent being caught with the drugs by police.
\nBama was unaware that his phone calls had been intercepted as part of a 2015 operation between the Queensland Police and the Australian Federal Police, investigating the supply of drugs in the Cape York area.
\nBetween 1\u201311 March 2016, lawfully intercepted phone calls revealed that Aniba and Bama were communicating with another PNG national named \u2018Joe\u2019. Joe said he had 200kg of cannabis he wanted to exchange for firearms and cash. The plan was for Bama and Joe to smuggle the drugs from PNG to Bamaga where they would sell them, then use the cash to buy firearms. The deal never eventuated.
\nOn 19 August 2017, Bama smuggled six Chinese nationals on a 14-foot dinghy from PNG to Saibai Island on the northern tip of Queensland, close to PNG. When Bama was arrested on 22 August, he said the Chinese had come from the Indonesian island of Merauke and that the plan had been to take them to Bamaga.
\nThe six Chinese nationals were detained by officers from the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, and Australian Defence Force, between 20\u201321 August.
\nCharges and sentence:<\/strong>
\nBama was charged with:<\/p>\n