It was around March 2017 when ex-Australian Border Force (ABF)
customs official Johayna Merhi and current ABF senior customs
officer Craig Eakin agreed to assist the Jomaa crime syndicate with
their illicit large-scale tobacco importation operation.
Unbeknownst to the pair helping the criminal network, there was
already a
covert police operation investigating it. Since 2016, NSW
police uncover operatives had been surveilling Ali and Abbass
Jomaa's tobacco tax avoidance smuggling operation.
Ms Merhi had formerly worked with Mr Eakin at the ABF over a
fourteen year period, in a position that was senior to his at the
time. Her role in the smuggling operation was to facilitate
communications between the Jomaa family and her former
colleague.
