Man to front court after $16m of ice found in shipment from Mexico
A Canadian-French man has been charged with importing 154 kilograms of methamphetamine – estimated to be worth more than $16 million – into Australia from Mexico.
The 26-year-old was arrested in Chadstone, in Melbourne’s south-east, on Saturday night.
Some of the methamaphetamine that the joint police operation found.Credit:Police Media
The arrest followed an investigation by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Task Force and Australian Federal Police.
In a statement, police say they will allege in court the man imported the drugs concealed inside a shipment of 19 tonnes of silver concentrate in January.
The investigators, who were working with the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau, identified a suspicious shipping container which arrived into Melbourne from Mexico on January 23.
They identified ‘‘a number of anomalies’’ with the consignment while it was at the Melbourne Container Examination Facility.
They then tested the blocks of substance and found methamphetamine had been hidden inside the silver concentrate.
The Canadian-French dual national was remanded in custody and will appear in court on Tuesday.
He has been charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, attempted possession of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and attempted trafficking of controlled drug.
A 34-year-old Sydney man was also arrested in relation to the import near Seymour, north of Melbourne, on Saturday afternoon and charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
He will also face court on Tuesday. Raids were also executed at properties in Burwood and Oakleigh, along with the Sydney suburb of Leonay, as part of the investigation.
Federal police acting Assistant Commissioner Bruce Giles said with local and international partners they had stopped 154 kilograms of methamphetamine from hitting the streets, while also ‘‘dismantling and disrupting the work of an organised crime syndicate’’.