The gang behind the largest cocaine bust in Australian history have been described by police as a "robust, resilient and determined syndicate" behind a number of alleged attempts to import large quantities of drugs into the country.
Authorities smashed the 15-member ring on Christmas Day, seizing 500 kilograms of cocaine from a boat at Parsley Bay near Brooklyn on the Hawkesbury River.
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$360m cocaine drug bust in Sydney
Fifteen men have been charged after police busted an alleged drug ring on Christmas night. Vision: Seven News.
Police allege the gang were involved in five attempts to import drugs into Australia, including 32 kilograms of heroin that was seized in Fiji in December 2014 and 600 kilograms of cocaine that was seized in Tahiti in March this year.
Officers from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and NSW Police have worked with international authorities for the past 2 ½ years to break the syndicate.
Acting Australian Border Force assistant commissioner Tim Fitzgerald said there was no evidence the syndicate had successfully imported drugs into Australia over the course of its operation.
AFP acting assistant commissioner Chris Sheehan described the gang as "sophisticated" and a "significant" part of the Sydney drug market.
"The criminal syndicate we have dismantled over the past few days was a robust, resilient and determined syndicate who posed an ongoing threat to the Australian community and without the work of our police would still be in action today," he said.
"They were determined to exploit some of the most vulnerable people in the community, they were brazen and selfish."
He told a Sydney press conference that the entire syndicate had been captured in a series of arrests involving 100 officers across Australia between December 25 and 28; however, police are continuing inquiries internationally.
Police allege the drugs originated in South America before being shipped across the South Pacific, destined for Australia.
The 500-kilogram cocaine shipment seized on Christmas Day and the 600 kilograms seized in Tahiti represent the largest cocaine bust in Australian history with an estimated street value of $360 million.
NSW Police Force assistant commissioner Mark Jenkins said the scale of the shipment was "quite a chunk out of the cocaine economy" and would have had a "devastating" effect on the community.
He said police were initially alerted to the alleged drug importation syndicate ring by a concerned member of the public who contacted the drug squad in 2014.Â
He told the media the Sydney Fish Markets had no connection with the syndicate other than being a mooring for the trawler, the Dalrymple, which was allegedly involved in collecting the shipment of cocaine this month.
The cocaine ring had tentacles across Australia with members operating out of Tasmania, Queensland, Sydney, the Central Coast and the NSW South Coast.
Police will allege veteran fisherman, fishing company bosses and maritime workers around the country helped the cargo reach shore while several eastern suburbs businessman and former NRL star John Roland Boyd Tobin ensured its distribution in Sydney.
Ulladulla brothers Michael and Francesco "Frankie" Pirrello were arrested in the south coast town on Tuesday as well as Joseph "Joe" Pirrello, a veteran Ulladulla fisherman who courted controversy in 2013 by trying to bring super-trawlers to Australia.
Joe Pirrello, who runs large-scale Australian fishing company Seafish Tasmania, tried to bring the super-trawler Abel Tasman (formerly Margiris) to Australian waters. After a public outcry, the government banned the trawlers.
He previously ran a company that had operations in Ulladulla, Portland in Victoria and Hobart as well as a distant water vessel off the coast of New Zealand.
Michael and Frankie Pirrello's family insisted Joe Pirrello was not a relative of theirs and said on Thursday he was "scum".
Friends and fishermen Reuben John Dawe, 41, and Stuart Ayrton, 51, who both studied at the Australian Maritime College, were also arrested over their part in the syndicate.
James Collins, 63, was arrested in the waterside Hobart suburb of Rokeby and Peter Spero, 49, in North Lakes, Queensland on Tuesday. Both men were extradited on Wednesday and refused bail in Parramatta Bail Court on Thursday.
In Sydney, former private schoolboy and Double Bay businessman Richard "Rick" Lipton, 37, who lists his job as a business development manager for low energy lighting company Ensol Systems, was also arrested.
The former Cranbrook student's family said they did not want to comment.Â
Bondi entrepreneur Darren John Mohr, 42, who has displayed expensive motorbikes, cars and boats on his social media profiles, was arrested in Rose Bay on Tuesday.
Former NRL star John Roland Boyd Tobin, 57, who played 125 matches for Eastern Suburbs Roosters, was one of three members arrested on board the Dalrymple on Christmas night.