Police swooped on a vehicle stopped at a Goulburn service station on Monday night, arresting a 22-year-old man, seizing $130,000 in cash and locating two hidden compartments in his car allegedly concealing a kilogram of cocaine.
The NSW Raptor South team - recently formed to focus on organised crime activity outside the Sydney area - also seized an encrypted criminal communication device.
The seizure of this banned device is understood to be the first under new NSW laws that came into effect from February 1.
The Dedicated Encrypted Criminal Communication Device Prohibition Orders Bill 2022 was introduced in NSW to make "possession of a dedicated encrypted criminal communication device for the purpose of committing or facilitating serious criminal activity an offence" and provides police with entry and search powers.
Officers attached to the newly formed State Crime Command's Raptor South Squad were patrolling the Goulburn area about 6.20pm on Monday, when they detected a vehicle travelling north on the Hume Highway.
They tailed the car and when it pulled into a service station, approached the driver and searched the vehicle, recovering the drugs, the cash and the device.
The man was arrested and taken to Goulburn police station, where he was charged with possessing the banned device to commit serious criminal activity, supply commercial quantity prohibited drug, and deal with property proceeds of crime.
The man, from Liverpool, was refused bail and is expected to appear in the Goulburn Local Court on Tuesday afternoon.
Raptor Squad Commander, Detective Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis, said this was the first time NSW Police had charged a person under the new organised crime legislation prohibiting the possession of the banned device.
"This investigation highlights that organised crime syndicates use dedicated encrypted criminal communication devices to facilitate their illegal activities to avoid police detection," he said.
"These new organised crime laws provide us with the additional tools to target those involved in organised crime. It is these reasons why these laws, the first in Australia, are vital in aiding our fight against organised crime in NSW.
"Criminals use our major transport routes and highways to transport drugs and cash interstate and throughout NSW. These syndicates think just because they aren't in the city, we won't notice their activities - they're wrong."
The seized device will be subject to a digital forensic examination and inquiries are continuing.
