Australia seizes more than half a tonne of drugs smuggled in barbecues
On searching the container, the police found 200 aluminum barbecues, many with false base plates con
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian police have arrested two men for allegedly smuggling 645 kilograms (1,422 pounds) of ecstasy hidden inside hundreds of aluminum barbecues, the culmination of a six-month investigation spanning three countries.
In a statement on Tuesday (December 17), the Australian Border Force (ABF) said it had charged a 30-year-old man from Queensland and a 33-year-old Canadian national over their involvement in the criminal enterprise. At well over half a tonne, the haul of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, is the biggest shipment by weight seized in Australia this year.
The case began in July when police in the Cyprus Drug Law Enforcement Unit tipped off ABF counterparts about a potential large shipment of MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, in a container shipping from Limassol and bound for Sydney. The investigation also involved the United Kingdom National Crime Agency, the ABF said.
On searching the container, the police found 200 aluminum barbecues, many with false base plates concealing multiple packages of the drug.
Officers swapped the MDMA for an inert substance and delivered the barbecues to a warehouse in Sydney, where it sat for more than three months. The investigation remains ongoing and is expected to lead to further arrests, the ABF said. Police didn t disclose the names of the two men held, who each face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment if convicted.
