Aussies hold Canadian for drug smuggling

Another Canadian has been arrested at an Australian airport, charged with smuggling drugs concealed in her luggage.

The 43-year-old woman was arrested Thursday after arriving at Melbourne International Airport on a flight from India. She was travelling with a 38-year-old Portuguese man who was also arrested. The couple were selected for baggage examination as they passed through customs, according to the Australian Border Force.

A number of bottles of cosmetics products labelled “Body Milk,” “Pure Coconut Oil” and “Magic Cleaner” were found in the luggage and tested. Presumptive testing returned positive results for Ketamine and GHB. Police accuse them of bringing 200 mL of GHB and 800 mL of Ketamine into the country.

GHB, short for gammaHydroxybutyrate, is used as an intoxicant and date rape drug. Ketamine is a medical anesthetic often used as part of nightclub culture.

The couple and their luggage were turned over to the Australian Federal Police. They were later charged with importation of a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug. The maximum penalty is 25 years in jail.

The names of the pair were not released.

Authorities touted the arrests as showing how they are alert to small-time drug schemes as well as large organized crime conspiracies.

“The ABF does not solely target crime syndicates importing large consignments of illicit drugs and is equally vigilant at our airports,” ABF Acting Commander Craig Palmer said. “This may appear to be a relatively small quantity of illicit drugs, but every detection we make takes drugs off the streets and we now have two alleged drug smugglers before the courts.”

There has been a string of high-profile arrests of Canadians caught at Australia’s borders with drugs. Last month, the last of three Canadians pleaded guilty to importing drugs into Australia, including two Quebec women, caught with suitcases full of cocaine on a cruise ship. The three entered guilty pleas in court in Sydney. It was the largest drug cache found aboard a passenger ship in Australia.

In October, three Canadians were sentenced to prison terms after cocaine worth more than $20 million was found in their luggage at Sydney airport.