A man has been charged over his alleged role in a plot to import 80 kilograms of methamphetamines into Australia last year.
A joint task force arrested a 25-year-old Werribee man in Melbourne’s south-west yesterday, after receiving a tip-off from US law enforcement.
In October last year, the Australian Border Force seized a shipment of steel boxes bound for a Victorian business.
Inside officers found 80 kilograms of meth, with an estimated street value of $74 million, according to the Australian Federal Police.
The drugs, which the AFP said could have been sold as 800,000 individual deals, were removed and the shipment delivered as intended to an address in Moorabbin in November 2023.
Authorities said they observed the Wirribee man at a nearby location. He was arrested and his home searched.
Inside the home police allegedly found encrypted communication devices, small amounts of drugs and evidence of their alleged manufacture.
The 25-year-old was released pending further inquiries.
On review of the evidence seized during the search, police allege the man trafficked 11 kilograms of MDMA, 10 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5 kilograms of cocaine and 2 kilograms of ketamine and laundered about $850,000 allegedly obtained from criminal activities.
The man was arrested again yesterday in Newcomb after months of investigation.
He was later charged by the AFP and Victoria Police with one count each on ten separate charges, including imported a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, namely methamphetamine and dealing with the proceeds of a crime, among the string of offences.
AFP Detective Superintendent Jason McArthur said the agency is working closely with law enforcement partners in the Joint Organised Crime Task Force, to “make Australia a hostile environment for anyone involved in the illicit drug trade”.
“The seizure of 80kg of methamphetamine not only kept our communities safer but it deprived a criminal syndicate of millions of dollars that could be used to fund other illegal ventures or enjoy lives of luxury while law-abiding citizens face cost-of-living pressures,” McArthur said in a statement.
The JOCTF includes state police, AFP, ABF, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Department of Home Affairs.
Australia has the highest use of methylamphetamine per capita compared to anywhere in the world, according to Victoria Police Detective Superintendent David Cowan, from the Organised Crime Division.
“The damage caused by the use of methylamphetamine ripples throughout the community, and it does not just affect those using the drug,” Cowan said.
The arrest and charge comes just a week after two others – a 43-year-old St Kilda man and a 42-year-old man of no fixed place of address – were charged with attempt to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug in another joint Victorian operation, where 10 kilograms of meth was seized along with six kilograms of MDMA.
The Werribee man appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court today, where he did not apply for bail. He’ll return to court in October.
