A director of the new Western Victoria Livestock Exchange (WVLX) at Mortlake has been arrested in connection with a cocaine smuggling group.
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According to a statement from SELX Pty Ltd, the group behind the Mortlake saleyards, Rohan Arnold was one of three Australian citizens arrested in Belgrade who were allegedly part of an organised criminal group suspected of smuggling cocaine worth $500 million.
It comes just days before Monday’s opening of the new state-of-the-art saleyards.
Mr Arnold is a director of SELX Pty Ltd that has spent $15 million building a 416-selling pen regional saleyards at Mortlake that will compete against municipal council-owned saleyards throughout the south-west for cattle throughput.
SELX Pty Ltd, which also owns saleyards in Yass, said the operation and management of SELX and the new Mortrlake saleyards would not be affected by Mr Arnold’s arrest.
Serbian authorities said on Wednesday they had arrested three Australians after a nine-month investigation that was conducted jointly with Australian authorities.
They said the three were linked to the seizure of 1.28 tonnes of cocaine in Sydney last year.
A Lebanese citizen was also arrested on suspicion of forging a document,.
Serbian authorities said the investigation began in April 2017, when a container with steel tubes arrived in the Sydney from China, with 1,280 kilograms of cocaine packaged in 2,576 packages.
The cocaine had a market value of $500 million.
The Serbian authorities said the three Australians were arrested when handing over money in Belgrade.
The money seized included 638,020 euros, 11,350 Australian dollars, 18,300 Czech crowns, 528,000 Vietnamese dongs, 9000 Japanese yen, 2940 Chinese yuan, 2500 Thai baht, 863 Singapore dollars, 112,000 dinars. A pistol was also seized.
Mr Arnold has been involved in the construction of the new Mortlake saleyards since early last year and recently took groups for a tour of the facility.
Media reports said Mr Arnold had a career in steel manufacturing that spanned more than 20 years.