CANBERRA (XINHUA) – Federal authorities in Australia charged three men over an alleged plot to import over one tonne of liquid methamphetamine into the country in juice bottles.
The Australian Federal Police yesterday said that the men, aged 30, 35 and 43, from the northeastern state of Queensland have each been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The police said that it launched an investigation in May after the Canada Border Services Agency allegedly identified 1.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine hidden in juice bottles that had arrived in Vancouver from Brazil and were bound for Australia.
The illicit drug was removed from the packages and replaced with an inert substance, the police said, and the shipment continued to Brisbane.
The three men were arrested earlier in September after the shipment was delivered to a property in the town of Jimboomba, approximately 40 kilometres south of Brisbane.
According to the police, the liquid methamphetamine has a street value of AUD400 million (USD269.9 million) once converted into crystal methamphetamine.
