The alleged smugglers planned to move the drugs through Sydney Airport hidden in industrial machinery.
Australian Federal Police received an anonymous tip-off to Crime Stoppers last month, as well as intelligence from the US Homeland Security Investigations about large drug shipments being sent to a Sydney-based furniture store.
On July 22, Australian Border Force detectives detected 896kg of meth hidden inside two separate computer numerical control machines at Port Botany.ABF Acting Commander Asha Patwardhan said the meth had been detected by dogs even through layers of concrete and metal, which officers then drilled through to find the powder.
The drugs were seized and the emptied machines were delivered to their intended destination in Warwick Farm in Sydney's south-west this Wednesday, July 31. Police will allege two men examined and opened the container and, with the assistance of a forklift, began to handle the contents inside.Both men were subsequently arrested, and the AFP searched the Warwick Farm property, a home in Minto and a vehicle.The meth would have been dealt up and down the eastern seaboard, police say. AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said 896kg of methamphetamine could have been sold as 8.
"Australia's a very lucrative drug market, we have some of the highest drug prices in the world," he said.The "huge" shipment would likely have been distributed across the eastern seaboard, he said.He confirmed the 31-year-old charged over the bust was not previously known to police and had never been arrested before."I think there's very much an organised crime syndicate behind this," Fogarty said.
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