Mark Standen is alleged to have had massive gambling debts and had set up the AU$120 million drug deal

Australian police are investigating links between allegedly corrupt top crime investigator Mark Standen and a jailed drug runner whose attempt to smuggle AU$7 million (NZ$8.83 million) in cocaine into Australia was foiled by New Zealand customs. Standen, NSW Crime Commission deputy head was arrested this week for his alleged role in a AU$120 million global drug conspiracy. He now faces a second investigation into his friendship with John Anderson, who is awaiting sentencing over the cocaine smuggling, Melbourne's Sun-Herald newspaper reported. The newspaper reported Australian Federal Police began their investigation into Standen the same month New Zealand authorities intercepted Anderson's cocaine shipment en route to Australia from South America. In June 2006, the New Zealand Customs Service, recovered 18.3kg of cocaine concealed on the exterior of the vessel MV Tampa as it arrived in Auckland Harbour. The vessel was bound for Australia.
The drugs and the metal pod containing them were removed by Customs officers before the ship left Auckland. Australian Customs and the NSW Police Special Crime Unit then monitored the MV Tampa as it passed through Australian waters, while New Zealand customs searched a second vessel, the MV Taronga, when it berthed in Auckland in late September 2006 and found 8.7kg of cocaine concealed in the same manner. Australian Federal Police arrested Anderson, then 66. They also arrested his son Michael, then 28, who was spotted attempting to dive under the Tampa.
Separately, Sydney police stumbled on Standen's connection to Anderson a month ago: detectives following a cold-case lead that Anderson was involved in the rape and murder of a Sydney teenager 30 years ago found Standen's son Matthew staying in the home of Anderson's estranged wife Susan. The newspaper reported Standen has been a close friend of Anderson for at least 30 years and was a regular visitor to his Central Coast home, according to former neighbours who coincidentally knew both men.
Standen is alleged to have had massive gambling debts and had set up the AU$120 million drug deal, uncovered by Dutch authorities, while on a luxury trip to Dubai.