There was a time when a small group of unit owners of Sunrise Bay Tower 1, a sleek apartment block overlooking the Dubai marina and boasting private beach access, along with a few of their near neighbours, were allegedly responsible for more illicit drugs entering Australia than at any other period in history.
Pandeli is suspected of being Australia’s most influential drug trafficker, according to eight serving and former law enforcement officials who spoke to this masthead on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential information.Mohamed Bousaleh, a close associate of Coffen, and a man identified by Australian crime agencies as one of their priority targets worldwide, is the deed holder of a villa just 15 minutes away.
Both men have been formally designated by Australian agencies as priority targets given the alleged grave harm to national security caused by their suspected involvement in industrial-scale drug trafficking. “Ultimately, we are a supply-driven market, so overseas syndicates will just keep bringing in more drugs and we will just continue to consume them.”On November 28, 2002, three masked men burst into a warehouse in Sydney. Two were armed with pistols, the third a baseball bat.
“The robberies were about getting seed capital for his later ventures,” the source says. “It was all about money. He just didn’t want to do the hard yards to earn it.”“A couple of people that I’ve spoken to, who knew him well, said he just liked the excitement of the armed robbery scene. He liked the adrenaline,” he says.
Still, intelligence about his activities filtered back to Australian agencies. Around 2019, Coffen was identified as running a booming business selling encrypted communication platforms, known as Ciphr phones, that shielded drug traffickers from police phone taps.Around the same time, an AFP officer was told by a UAE official of an Australian businessman the Dubai authorities had dubbed the “baby billionaire” due to his youthful appearance and rapidly growing wealth. It was Coffen.
“Boasting iconic skyscrapers, opulent residences, and state-of-the-art infrastructure, the allure of UAE’s property market is undeniable,” his blog states. When reached for comment, Dos Santos said she had purchased the Dubai property with income from her private sector businesses, and accused Angolan authorities of a politically motivated agenda.