Three Logan men have reportedly been duped by Canadian authorities after allegedly attempting to smuggle $400m of methamphetamine into Australia.
What they allegedly thought was 1.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine “hidden in a consignment of juice bottles” had actually been replaced with an inert substance before landing on Australian soil.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) has charged two Jimboomba men aged 35 and 43, and a Buccan man, aged 30, over the incident.
Police said the men were arrested at a rural property in Jimboomba and a shopping centre in Browns Plains on 11 September after Canadian authorities discovered 1.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine.
This amount of the drug has an estimated street value of $400 million, according to police, and could have equated to four million individual street deals once crystalised.
“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) alerted the AFP before the liquid methamphetamine was removed from the consignment and replaced with an inert substance,” the AFP said.
“The shipment then continued to Brisbane, where it arrived via a container ship on 3 September, 2024.
“The AFP arrested the three men after the consignment was delivered to a semi-rural property in Jimboomba and stored in a large shed.”
Testing by Canadian authorities allegedly revealed the liquid methamphetamine had a purity level up to 89 per cent.
AFP Acting Commander Adrian Telfer said the negative impact of methamphetamine on the Australian community was well known.
“The cost to our society from four million hits of crystal methamphetamine cannot be overstated,” Mr Telfer said.
“If converted to crystal meth and sold into the Australian community, this amount of liquid methamphetamine would have led to domestic violence, assaults and contributed to the road toll, as well as lined the pockets or organised crime.
“I’d like to thank our partners in Canada – the Canada Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police – for their invaluable assistance with this investigation.”
Canada Border Services Agency’ pacific region director general, Nina Patel said the partnership helped protect communities against “organised crime”.
“CBSA’s seizure of nearly 1,280 litres of liquid methamphetamine and the investigations by our partners is a testament to the cooperation between transnational law enforcement to combat the illegal drug trade,” she said.
The three Logan men faced Brisbane Magistrates Court on 12 September.
All three were remanded in custody to reappear in the Brisbane Magistrates Court last week.
Attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug, namely methamphetamine, contrary to sections 307.5 and 11.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).
The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.
