Iranian refugees accused of running drug smuggling ring

A disgraced Olympic boxer who represented Australia is among four Iranian refugees facing indefinite detention after being accused of shipping millions of dollars of drugs into Australia as part of an international crime syndicate.

Saeid Ghorbanpour and Amin Maleki, from Liverpool in Sydney's west, allegedly flew to northern Iraq early last year to smuggle in 90kg of tea leaves laced with pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in the drug ice, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Ghorbanpour will face court on December 10, having allegedly told the group, "we have nothing to worry about because if we were under investigation we would have been -arrested by now."

Former boxer Anoushirvan Nourian, who was set to represent Iran at the 2000 Olympics only to test positive for steroids, pleaded guilty last Wednesday to the same charges.

He claimed asylum in Australia after the games and became a citizen, representing Australia at the 2004 Athens games, where he finished ninth.

A fourth refugee allegedly involved in the smuggling ring, who can't be named for legal reasons, survived the December 2010 Christmas Island disaster in which 48 asylum seekers were killed when their boat smashed into rocks.

If they are given jail sentences of more than one year they will face indefinite detention as they will be unable to return to Iran, the newspaper reports.