HERALD SUN ( Australia), SKY NEWS (UK)
SYDNEY –Australian police have seized 585 kilograms of pure methamphetamine in Sydney bound to flush the major Australian cities. The haul was estimated at $438 million in street value, in what is largest seizure ever of methamphetamine down under.
Police had been tipped off in September about “suspicious activity” in a west Sydney storage unit, reported the Herald Sun. “One phone call was the one thread that allowed us to pull and unravel a syndicate that will be stopped forever,” stated New South Wales Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione, as quoted by Sky News.
Scipione said three people, an Australian, a Singaporean and a Hong Kong passport holder, have been arrested, with other arrests likely, Sky News reports.
This seizure is the result of a six-month investigation by the Joint Organised Crime Group (a multi-agency cooperation unit targeting drug trafficking) and the NSW police. Both units reckoned the high-purity product was part of a Chinese operation.
Authorities say it is more than twice as big as the previous record bust in Australia. The world record seizure is still held by the Mexican army when they arrested members of the powerful Sinaloa cartel for storing 15 tons of meth back in 2009.
