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A transnational drug syndicate has been caught trying to sneak millions of dollars worth of ketamine into Australia by outfitting French vehicles with false compartments, police allege.
Authorities called it an “outrageous” attempt for a syndicate to import a particularly harmful “date-rape drug”.
AFP officers from Operation Meribel arrested two men, 28 and 29, over an alleged $3.3 million ketamine plot using cars with hidden compartments.
Australian Federal Police on Saturday arrested two men, aged 28 and 29, and charged them with allegedly trying to import $3.36 million of the illicit drug.
The arrests under Operation Meribel were months in the making after the AFP was told a crime group was importing drugs hidden in commercial vehicles.
A bulk cargo ship docked in Melbourne on May 15 carrying two commercial French vans.
Officers from the Australian Border Force picked through the vehicles and allegedly found hidden compartments. Inside those cavities were 79 sealed plastic bags filled with white powder, police claim.
The cars allegedly contained 84kg of ketamine, an anaesthetic used as a date-rape drug and party drug.
In total, authorities allege they pulled out 84 kilograms of ketamine. The AFP replaced the drug with a fake substance, packed the bags back into the vans, and allowed them to continue to Sydney.
On Saturday, officers in Sydney followed the vans to a car dealership and waited. Police allege a man stole one of the vans, unloaded the fake drug packages and put them into a second vehicle.
The AFP officers were watching as the vehicle allegedly containing the fake drugs travelled to Yennora, in Sydney’s west. Officers intercepted the vehicle in Smithfield later on Saturday.
The men now face a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty of the charges.
Authorities are particularly concerned because while ketamine, an anaesthetic, is used by some as a party drug it is also used as a date-rape drug.
“This operation [suggests] transnational organised crime groups will send any substance they think they can make money from, they do not care about the harm they cause,” AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Kate Ferry said.
“[Alleged syndicates] pose a significant threat to Australia’s economy, our security and our way of life.”
The men applied for bail at Parramatta Local Court on Sunday but were refused. They will re-appear later this week.
The investigation into the syndicate will continue this week.
“This was, put simply, an outrageous attempt to import a highly dangerous substance that could have caused untold harm if let loose on the community,” Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Erin Dale said.
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