The AFP and customs intercept hundreds of tonnes of narcotics every year. But, the techniques of criminals and smugglers are becoming more complex, and unfortunately, more effective. 

Nigel Phair is a former Australian Federal Police Officer who took on a range of high profile drug importation cases. This saw him intercepting large quantities of drugs, investigating their origin and surveilling their eventual destination in Australia. 

Understand this work and hear Nigel walk host Brent Sanders through how the police undertake these investigations and how things have changed over the years. 

If this content affected you, the number for LifeLine is 13 11 14. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ned Kelly was executed in 1880, yet he remains one of the most iconic and divisive figures in Australian history.

For more than a century, a question has haunted historians, scientists, and the public alike: What happened to his remains?

In this episode, we follow the high-stakes forensic investigation that set out to uncover the truth.

Professor David Ranson from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, takes host Liz Porter inside the two-year effort to reconstruct history from fragments of bone, historical news clippings, and long-forgotten medical records, eventually untangling fact from folklore.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

68-year-old Allan Charles Gibson shot his wife at their Traralgon home in the early hours of April 14, 2016.  He then tried to take his own life, but failed.

Police arrested Gibson and tried him for murder.  His defence team argued he was suffering from dementia and argued the court ought to take his mental condition into consideration.

In this episode of Crime Insiders | Judgements, we go into the courtoom to discover if the court believed Gibson's dementia was a contributing factor in the murder of his wife.

A warning: this episode includes mention of self harm. If you need someone to talk to, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do forensic investigators decipher the scene of a violent car crash? Why is the filament in a brake light so important? And what evidence can lead investigators down the wrong path?

Dr Raphael Grzebieta is an expert in car crash analysis, and has worked for decades in the field. His goal is to bring road safety to the fore of transport conversations, and he refuses to acknowledge car crashes as accidents, claiming there is always a reason. 

Join former Crime Insiders Forensics host Kathryn Fox as she unpacks the work of Raphael, and uncovers just how he and other investigators come to their forensic conclusions. 

If this content raised issues for you, the number for Lifeline is 13 11 14.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a child, Craig Doran dreamt of being a policeman. He was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes. Craig ended up working for Queensland Police for 22 years.  

In this episode of Crime Insiders, Craig tells us about an investigation into a complex bank loan scam and how he and his team managed to keep the perpetrator in Australia to be convicted. 

In the second half of this episode, Craig tells us about Comtrac - a company he founded - that uses AI-enhanced investigation management software to boost productivity by mapping exhibits to key offence elements and generating briefs of evidence. It's saving police hundreds of hours of desk time, enabling more officers to return to the streets.

This episode contains descriptions of men's violence against women. If you or anyone you know needs assistance, contact 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A quiet suburb. A brutal murder. 

What happens when someone kills - but isn’t sane enough to be found guilty? 

Marita Cunningham was charged with murdering 81-year-old May Richie in 2016. 

A neighbour discovered May dead inside her apartment, her body covered in pillows and shopping bags. An autopsy found she’d died by asphyxiation and had been beaten with her own walking cane. 

Marita was arrested trying to flee the scene.  

Witnesses described Marita’s unsettling behaviour earlier that day, including outbursts in public, talking to herself, and showing up at her ex’s apartment uninvited.  

The court had to decide whether Marita was guilty of murder – or not guilty by virtue of mental illness. 

Should someone who kills, but genuinely doesn’t know reality from delusion, be found guilty of murder? 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world's most notorious criminals, unknowingly spilling their secrets on a 'secure' app run by... the cops. That's exactly what happened in Operation Ironside, a covert operation run by the FBI in collaboration with the AFP.

Chris Craner is one of Australia’s most experienced tactical operators. His 30-plus-year career had him at the forefront of some of the country’s most intense and high-stakes investigations, including Ironside and the Lindt Cafe Siege. 

In this episode hosted by Brent Sanders, Chris shares exclusive details about the Lindt Cafe Siege, and pulls back the curtain on Ironside. Hear how authorities infiltrated the underbelly of organised crime syndicates, seizing millions in dirty cash, blocking large importations of drugs and intercepting homicide plots.

If this content affected you, the number for Lifeline is 13 11 14. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Bob Chappell vanished from his yacht in Hobart, suspicion quickly turned on his partner, Sue Neill-Fraser, an unassuming woman who soon found herself at the centre of one of Australia’s most controversial murder cases.

But behind the headlines lies a deeper story - one of forensic failure, investigative tunnel vision, and a conviction that may never have happened if all the available avenues had been investigated.

In this episode, former detective Colin McLaren unpacks the crucial DNA evidence, the overlooked clues on the yacht, and the questions raised by a mysterious yellow Ford.

This is a story about how forensics should work, and what happens when it doesn’t.

Note: Sue Neill-Fraser was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury; her appeal was dismissed, and a Coroner’s investigation, which reviewed all the available evidence, supported the findings of the criminal proceedings. Tasmania Police stand by the integrity and thoroughness of the investigation, and the efforts of the investigation team, including the forensic experts, and the prosecution of the case by the office of the DPP.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, rugby league was a code looking to expand nationally after the success of its premier competition in Sydney.  Clubs emerged in Brisbane, Newcastle, and the Gold Coast.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation took the growth in the sport as an indication it ought to expand even further and plotted a coup, to take the running of the code out of the hands of the establishment - the Australian Rugby League.

What followed was a war that ripped the sport apart with Murdoch on one side and the other, backed by another multi-millionaire media mogul, Kerry Packer.  It was mogul against mogul, club against club, and players against players.

In this episode of Judgements we take a deep dive on how and why the war began - and how the game came back together to form what is now the National Rugby League.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Semen is the crack cocaine of the fly world, and while maggots love a corpse, flies feast on live human flesh and fluids. So, could a fly frame you for murder? And how do police differentiate fly 'artifacts' from human biological material at a crime scene?

These are all things forensic biologist, Dr Annalisa Durdle has studied. Join former Crime Insiders Forensics host Kathryn Fox as Annalisa redefines what it means to be a 'fly on the wall'. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, domestic, family or sexual violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au for online chat and video call services.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.