Drug traffickers try to smuggle meth into Australia in boxes of face masks and hand sanitiser
- Australian Border Force officers thwarted the drug smuggling plot in Sydney
- Officers opened the package from Canada and found face masks and sanitiser
- The package had a false bottom which contained a black vacuum sealed bag
- The crystal-like substance inside the bag tested positive to methamphetamine
- Two days later another package from Canada was intercepted by ABF officers
- The box contained two bottles of hand sanitiser with 800g of meth hidden inside
Drug traffickers have been caught smuggling 2kg methamphetamine in boxes of face masks, medicine and hand sanitiser.
Australian Border Force officers thwarted the drug smuggling plot in Sydney after finding the drugs in a package from Canada.
On 6 May, officers opened the package and found boxes of face masks and bottles of hand sanitiser.
But a further inspection revealed the package had a false bottom which contained a black vacuum sealed bag.
On 6 May, officers opened the package and found boxes of face masks and bottles of hand sanitiser with meth hidden inside
The crystal-like substance inside the bag tested positive to methamphetamine. The package contained one kilogram of the drug
The package from Canada had a false bottom which contained a black vacuum sealed bag full of methamphetamine
The crystal-like substance inside the bag tested positive to methamphetamine. The package contained one kilogram of the drug.
Two days later, on May 8, another package from Canada was intercepted by ABF officers at Sydney Gateway Facility.
The box contained face masks and two bottles of hand sanitiser - with 800g of meth hidden inside the bottles.
ABF Superintendent John Fleming said ABF officers are on the look-out for anyone trying to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to smuggle drugs into Australia.
'We know criminals will go to any length to smuggle drugs into the country, so it's no surprise they're trying to use in-demand items such as masks and hand sanitiser to hide them in,' Superintendent Fleming said.
'Criminals should know our efforts to secure our border have not stopped because of COVID-19. Sea containers are still being examined and items being sent through the mail centre or air cargo are still being screened.
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We are continuing to detect and stop illicit substances coming into Australia, no matter how they're being concealed.'
The drug bust comes just weeks after more than $80 million worth of liquid methylamphetamine was seized by police in a shipment of water bottles.
A joint operation between ABF officers and Australian Federal Police saw detectives track a shipment from Iran in April.
The shipment of water bottles was analysed by AFP officers at the Sydney Container Examination Facility and found to be suspicious.
A later breakdown discovered the shipment contained nearly 160 litres of liquid methylamphetamine.
SWAT officers raided a business at Old Guildford, in Sydney's west on April 23 and arrested two men aged 48 and 33.
The drug bust comes just weeks after more than $80 million worth of liquid methylamphetamine was seized by police in a shipment of water bottles
SWAT officers raided a business at Old Guildford, in Sydney's west on April 23 and arrested two men aged 48 and 33
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