High roller Rob Karam charged in $2bn drug plot, by Keith Moor - Herald Sun - 16th August 2008

Banned Crown casino high roller Rob Karam has been charged over a plot to import six tonnes of chemicals to make ice and speed with a street value of $2 billion.

The conspiracy to import pseudoephedrine charge is in addition to those laid against him last week over the world's biggest ecstasy bust.

Mr Karam, 41, of Kew, was one of Crown's top 200 gamblers until Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon banned him from the casino last year.

Australian Federal Police have also charged Fadl Maroun, 26, over the attempt to smuggle six tonnes of pseudoephedrine into Melbourne from China.

Mr Maroun, of Preston, is also facing charges over the world's biggest ecstasy bust, the 4.4-tonne AFP seizure in Melbourne of 14.5 million pills worth $450 million.

He and Mr Karam are due to appear in Melbourne Magistrates' Court to face charges in March.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty yesterday revealed joint operations between the AFP, Australian Customs and various state police forces had led to 38 people being charged in the past month.

Mr Keelty said the charges related to 14.6 tonnes of drugs with a street value of $3 billion.

He said 23 of the arrests related to the world's biggest ecstasy bust in Melbourne.

Two months before he was charged over the ecstasy and the six-tonne pseudoephedrine plot, Mr Karam revealed he was about to fight the lifetime gambling ban imposed on him by Ms Nixon.

"I maintain my innocence and I'd like to know why I was excluded, because the Chief Commissioner has not given me a reason," he said.

Section 74 of the Casino Control Act allows Ms Nixon to ban people from entering or remaining in a casino.

The Herald Sun last week revealed a global drug syndicate was allegedly involved in repeated attempts to flood the Australian market with world-record hauls of ecstasy.

That global network is allegedly dominated by a Calabrian organised crime gang.

Australian Customs chief executive Michael Carmody yesterday revealed the seizure of 662kg of pseudoephedrine worth $52 million.

It arrived in Sydney by ship on August 8 from Thailand, hidden in fruit juice cartons.

Four Sydney men were charged yesterday.

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