Mate Stipinovich Wiki – Bio
Mate Stipinovich, a man wanted for his alleged role in smuggling 800 pounds of cocaine has finally been apprehended by police after ordering Uber Eats on his own behalf.
Mate Stipinovich, 49, had been on the run for six weeks until police found him hiding under a backyard spa when they raided a house in Byford, south Perth, on Wednesday night.
Age
Mate Stipinovich is 49 years old.
Suspicion of drug trafficking
He had mistakenly ordered some food to take home on his own behalf, tipping off detectives who immediately invaded the house.
Stipinovich, a former Rebels bikie candidate, also allegedly had a gun in a plastic bag within arm’s reach at the time of his arrest. He was the last of a trio to be captured after a six-week manhunt in at least two states on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Heavily armed AFP officers spent an hour negotiating with Stipinovich on Wednesday night and used angle grinders to break down the roll-up doors surrounding the house. A resident who lives nearby said police had told them to stay inside.
“I could hear one of the officers say ‘we know he ordered Uber Eats, we know he’s there,'” the resident told the West Australian. “We heard them (the police) tell everyone (the neighbors) to stay in their living rooms and stay away from their windows.”
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Charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug
Another neighbor saw a sniper at a nearby fence facing the house where Stipinovich was hiding. Stipinovich and his alleged co-conspirators Aristides Avlonitis, 36, and Karl Whitburn, 45, were rescued from the ocean on February 1 after their boat capsized and sank.
Their cabin cruiser Aces and Eights capsized in rough seas and they only survived by using an esky to float about 17km off the coast of Albany, Western Australia. That seemed to be the end until on February 7, a black plastic bag with packets of cocaine, weighing about 40 kg in total, was found floating in the water.
Eight more were found aboard the 25-foot boat when it turned up a day later, capsized off Peaceful Bay, some 28 miles west of Denmark. The AFP, which already regarded the trio’s claim to be on a fishing trip as suspicious, alerted the men, who were unwilling to speak to police.
Avlonitis was traced to a rural home near Darwin on February 15 and Whitburn in the north-eastern suburbs of Perth on March 9. All three were charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, punishable by life in prison.
Stipinovich faced the court in Perth on Thursday. Police alleged that the men picked up the drugs after they were left floating in the ocean by another ship, before their boat capsized in the waves.
How the cocaine got into the ocean and by whom is still under investigation. Stipinovich was remanded in custody after his brief court appearance on Thursday and will face court again next month.
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