Alleged members of an Australian-based Chinese and Taiwanese crime syndicate have been charged after police seized a commercial quantity of methamphetamine skillfully "impregnated" in imported items.
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Australian Border Force officers were X-ray screening a consignment of surfboards when they allegedly discovered methamphetamine concealed in the resin.
Police allege 78 kilograms of the drug were shipped via air cargo from Los Angeles to Melbourne in the boards on August 11.
The illicit drugs were swapped for an inert substance by police who delivered the shipment to a storage unit in Dandenong South on August 23.
A 33-year-old Burwood man was seen collecting the surfboards with a NSW man on August 25.
Police spotted the Burwood man and a 33-year-old Ferntree Gully man collecting pallets from a second consignment of alleged illicit drugs on August 30.
The second consignment held silicon moulds that police allege were impregnated with meth, which is a concealment method with a complex extraction process.
Police estimate the silicon moulds contain between 200 and 300 kilograms of meth.
Both 33-year-old Melbourne men were charged with one count each of importing, attempting to possess and possessing a border controlled drug on September 5.
"The illicit drug supply chain is littered with violence and had this amount of methamphetamine made its way onto our streets, it would have spread through our suburbs, fuelling more violence, crime and drug addiction," AFP Detective Superintendent Jason McArthur said.
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Anna Houlahan
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Reach out with news or updates to anna.houlahan@austcommunitymedia.com.au
