Huge haul of heroin

Police seize 150kg of drug and arrest four in major operation

FOUR men have been charged after more than 150kg of heroin was allegedly smuggled into Sydney from Malaysia in air cargo labelled as gym equipment and supplements.

The bust is believed to be the largest of its kind in Australia in about a decade.

Australian Border Force officers on January 6 noticed anomalies in three of four wooden crates, which con- tained various handicraft items including straw hats and timber souvenirs.

Hidden inside was 400 blocks of heroin, weighing 154kg, with a street value of more than $77 million, police allege.

“It’s significant. It’s the largest in Australia for probably around 10 years for heroin,” ABF Superintendent Garry Low said yesterday.

“This detection makes up over 80 per cent of last year’s total detections at the border.”

Investigators followed the shipment to a home in Arncliffe, in Sydney’s south, where a 31-year-old man allegedly split the contents and passed it on to two men.

Detectives arrested the trio, as well as a fourth man in Newcastle. They went on to uncover a further 7.5kg of heroin, 35kg of “ice” worth $26 million, more than $200,000 in cash, a money counter and drug paraphernalia during raids across Sydney on Thursday.

In total, police seized drugs worth more than $107 million.

“While ever there is a market here, while ever there are people willing to buy the product and use it, we have a problem,” Detective Superintendent Tony Cooke said.

“Young people these days will go to Woolies for all the great foods and then on Saturday they’ll be at a dance party popping a pill that they do not know what’s in it. We can tell them they’re full of poison and people have died.

“We really need to see some cultural change.” The four men have been charged with various drug offences and were all refused bail yesterday.