Smugglers Attempt to Ship Meth From Germany to Lucrative Australian Market
Australian authorities have charged two men with trying to smuggle methamphetamine into the country in a shipping container of car parts last month. The unusual routing of the shipment - from Europe into Australia - is a sign of the exceptional demand for stimulants on the Australian market, and the profitability available for smugglers.
On July 27, Australian Border Force officers were examining a shipping container of car parts and decided to give a closer look to a vehicle transmission in the consignment. X-ray examination revealed abnormalities, and when officers opened it up to look, they found five plastic bags filled with a white powder. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine - 13 kilos of it, worth about AUD$1 million per kilo.
The ABF handed it over to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for further investigation. AFP officers replaced the drugs with similar bags of an inert substance and sent the shipment on its way, under monitoring. The final destination was an industrial facility in a Sydney suburb.
The AFP alleges that an 18-year-old man gave false information to collect the consignment, then pulled the "dirty" transmission out of the container and moved it to a location in the adjacent community of Greystanes. At that location, the 18-year-old provided the transmission to a 41-year-old man, the AFP claims.
The 41-year-old individual was arrested at the scene. The teenager attempted to flee, AFP alleges, but was caught shortly in a foot chase. A third man escaped from the scene.
The 41-year-old man faces charges of importing a commercial quantity of methamphetamine, and both face a charge of attempting to possess. These charges all carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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"Organized crime groups are constantly evolving their concealment techniques, but so too are our intelligence, targeting and detection capabilities to stay ahead of these methodologies," Superintendent Patwardhan said. "ABF officers use targeted, intelligence-based profiling to identify high risk imported consignments, and sophisticated technology to inspect them for any irregularities."
Australia has a higher demand for cocaine and methamphetamine (per capita) than anywhere else, and the drugs command a high price. The shipment intercepted on July 27 originated in Germany - itself a high-value drug market, ordinarily a destination rather than a point of origin - before making its way across the seas to Australia, where it would be worth even more.
