VETERAN Australian Federal Police investigators have ridiculed the force, saying the operation that led to the arrest and imminent executions of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran was “an indictment on Australian law enforcement”.

Serving and former AFP ­officers have told the Sunday Herald Sun the 2005 operation was a benchmark in “gross incompetence” which allowed the kingpins of the planned importation of heroin to Australia to escape capture.

One veteran AFP officer revealed local authorities were routinely not told of suspected drug deals, noting AFP guidelines against putting suspects in danger of the death penalty.

He claimed the AFP would typically intervene before suspects left Australia or after they arrived back here.

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Another officer claimed the AFP tipped off the Indonesians to secure political goodwill.

“I’ve been part of operations when we’ve let drug couriers travel overseas and we don’t tell anybody,” the veteran officer said.

“We intercept them at an Australian airport and you get them searched and it’s all over, red rover. That was common practice, especially when you deal with a country that has the death penalty.”

In the 2005 Bali Nine case, the officer would have favoured intervention before the Australians left the country, arguing that conspiracy charges — and the “turning” of low-level mules into informants — would have led to a successful sting.

His view was based on the tip-off to the AFP provided by the father of Bali Nine member Scott Rush before Rush boarded a plane to Bali. It has long been believed that senior syndicate figures defied investigators and remain at large.

A growing list of AFP critics in recent days has extended to former foreign minister Bob Carr, who demanded a “more convincing explanation”.

The AFP has long defended the operation.

A spokesman said: “The AFP has been, at all times, transparent and accountable in relation to its actions on this matter, and has always acted appropriately and in accordance with Australian and international policies and guidelines.”

In 2006, then AFP commissioner Mick Keelty said: “If we ­allowed the narcotics to arrive here we’re actually culpable and complicit.”

Yet former AFP officers said it was common operational procedure to allow drugs to be couriered home.

Low-level couriers would be encouraged to “turn” in the pursuit of higher tiers in the drug network.

“You don’t want to shoot the monkey,” one former officer explained, “you want the organ grinder.”

Professor Michael Kennedy, of the University of Western Sydney, accused the AFP of an error of judgment.

“I don’t think a lot of thought went in to what they did,” he said.

One AFP officer, quoting from AFP training protocols, said it was enshrined procedure to protect suspects from the death penalty.

“It had nothing to do with the scourge of drugs,” said another of the Bali Nine operation.

“It had everything to do with appeasing the Indonesian government. It’s the political pointscoring of faceless, hollow men.”

patrick.carlyon@news.com.au