Ten charged with harbouring illegal citizens, dealing in crime proceeds after Carabooda raids (ABC)

View Comments ABC Police display some of the weapons and packages of cash seized on Saturday.

Federal police claim three brothers are the head of a Perth crime syndicate involved in money laundering and using foreign nationals as cheap labour.

More than 500 law enforcement agents raided a market garden compound at Carabooda and another property in Wanneroo on Saturday, and more than 180 foreign nationals are now in custody.

Authorities believe the foreign nationals may have been working illegally at market gardens.

A 37-year-old man has been charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime of $1 million or more.

Another nine people, ranging in age from 32 to 49, have been charged with harbouring an unlawful non-citizen or dealing in the proceeds of crime.

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Ramzi Jabbour said the syndicate has been under investigation for four years.

"It's alleged that the syndicate used foreign nationals who entered this country lawfully, many of whom overstayed their visas and were subsequently illegally harboured by the syndicate," he said.

"The syndicate allegedly developed a sophisticated money-laundering scheme enabling underpayment to these foreign workers and allegedly avoiding taxation payments."

The state's Police Minister, Liza Harvey, said the company at the centre of the raid was a big supplier of WA produce.

She said while some of the workers had legitimate work visas, standards of housing and level of pay were well below Australian expectations.

"I'm convinced that we are going to be quite sickened by what we find," she said.

Ms Harvey said while one company has been identified, others may also be involved, and the Australian Taxation Office has been heavily involved in the investigation.

Call to release foreign workers from detention

The foreign nationals, found in a walled compound, have been taken into custody for questioning and are being kept at the Yongah Hill immigration detention centre, on the outskirts of Northam, east of Perth.

The president of the group West Australians for Racial Equality, Suresh Rajan, said they should be released into the community to await the outcome of the investigation.

"Taking people to Yongah Hill just doesn't make any sense," he said.

"These people have not been the ones who have been breaching their visa conditions; it's the employers that have been exploiting them.

"They themselves are in a very vulnerable position and not able to fight back."

Mr Rajan also said he was disappointed it took so long for authorities to investigate allegations of widespread exploitation of foreign workers in the state.

He said he has been raising concerns about the exploitation for a number of years.

"I think a lot of the stories that we have been made aware of over the last few years will now come to the surface," he said.

"I think that a lot of people will now get some confidence that the Immigration Department is actually doing something about it."

Ms Harvey said on Sunday the workers had been shanghaied into working at low rates and in conditions that other Australian workers would never tolerate.

Police said the main focus of the raids was not on the foreign nationals, but on a money laundering operation.

The operation has been described as the biggest of its kind in Western Australian history.

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