Australian police have seized more than A$1 billion (US$712 million) in methamphetamine, or “ice,” some concealed in inserts for bras in one of the nation’s biggest drug busts, authorities said yesterday.
Three Hong Kongers and a Chinese national were arrested during the joint operation with China, which Australian Minister of Justice Michael Keenan described as the largest seizure of liquid methamphetamine in Australian history.
“This has resulted in 3.6 million individual hits of ice being taken off our streets, with a street value of A$1.26 billion,” he said. “This largest seizure of liquid methamphetamine to date is the result of organized criminals, targeting the lucrative Australian ice market from offshore.”
Photo: AFP
Australian Federal Police Commander Chris Sheehan said the operation began in December last year when the Australian Border Force examined a shipping container out of Hong Kong in Sydney. It originated in China.
“That shipping container was found to contain gel bra inserts and hidden inside those gel bra inserts was 190 liters of liquid methamphetamine,” he said.
The seizure was referred to the Australian Federal Police, who began an investigation that traced an additional 530 liters of liquid methamphetamine to five storage units in Sydney where they were found inside art supplies.
Last month, a 33-year-old Hong Kong man was arrested and charged in connection with the original seizure.
A further two Hong Kongers, a man, aged 37, and a 52-year-old woman, along with a Chinese man, aged 59, were also seized and charged with knowingly taking part in the manufacture of a commercial quantity of a prohibited drug over the stash in the storage units.
“We are alleging that the people we have arrested were not just mere bit-players, they were significant players within this criminal network,” said Sheehan, adding that they all face life in prison if convicted.
The sting was part of Taskforce Blaze, a rare operation established in November last year between the Australian Federal Police and the Chinese National Narcotics Control Commission — the first joint effort between the two targeting the booming ice market.
The two sides are working together to gather intelligence relating to concealment methods, trafficking routes and syndicates facilitating methamphetamine imports from Southeast China into Australia.
“This critical international cooperation is already paying significant intelligence dividends,” Keenan said.
The bust comes two months after Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull unveiled a A$300 million strategy to combat the growing use of ice following a government report that Australia had proportionally more users than most nations.
The report showed that the use of the highly addictive drug had doubled since 2007 to more than 200,000 users in 2013, with anecdotal evidence of higher current numbers.
An Australian Crime Commission report published last year found that while US$80 bought 1g of ice in China, users in Australia had to pay US$500 for the same amount.
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