POLICE have charged three men over a 621-kilogram shipment of drugs that arrived at the port of Melbourne last year.
The Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force launched an investigation in July 2024 after ABF officers found the drugs in a consignment of galvanised hooks sent from Italy.
The consignment contained 421 kilograms of MDMA pills, 120-kilogram blocks of a substance suspected to be tusi (or pink cocaine) and 80 kilograms of methamphetamine.
The Sydney man and two Chinese nationals were among five men arrested and charged this week during investigations into the importation plot. The two other men, also Chinese nationals, are alleged to have possessed precursors for the manufacture or production of drugs.
The combined total “street value” of the drugs could potentially have been as much as $116.8 million, according to police/border force estimates.
The AFP substituted the illicit drugs with an inert substance and delivered the container to an address in Brooklyn, Victoria, on 1 August 2024.
Authorities allege the consignment was later transported to a storage facility in the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn.
The three men charged over the import plot were due to face court yesterday (16 January). The maximum penalty for each of their charges is life imprisonment.
AFP Commander Raegan Stewart said authorities also prevented another 150 kilograms of precursor chemicals from reaching the Australian community, in addition to the 621 kilograms of illicit drugs.
“Importing nearly half a tonne of MDMA into Australia is a significant criminal endeavour,” he said.
And ABF Acting Commander Fiona Strong border force officers are equipped with technology and capabilities that enable the detection of the slightest trace of the drugs.
“On this occasion, our ABF officers noticed an anomaly between the consignment and the purported description of goods, and upon further inspection discovered the illicit drugs,” she said.
