Five men in Australia and the United Kingdom have been arrested over the discovery of almost 450 kilograms of MDMA in an excavator shipped to Australia.
Almost $80 million worth of MDMA has been found inside an excavator imported to Australia from the United Kingdom, prompting the arrest of five men across both countries.
Just under 450 kilograms of the drug was found inside an excavator that left London, bound for a Sydney address.
The Australian Federal Police posted about the drug bust to its Facebook page, using the hash tag: #CanYouDigIttttttttttt
Operation Centinel North Hart began in March 2020, when Australian Border Force detected a “suspect shipment of an excavator” on its way to Australia, the AFP said in the post.
“AFP Forensics officers did some digging and removed 226 plastic bags containing a crystalline substance hidden within the arm of the excavator.”
When the shipment arrived into Brisbane, border force officers had the excavator x-rayed – revealing “anomalies” inside the arm of the machine.
The excavator was the delivered to the address – resulting in search warrants being executed.
Federal police raided four locations across western Sydney on Wednesday, arresting two men and seizing about $1.2 million in cash.
A 33-year-old Mortlake man and a 42-year-old Greystanes man have both been charged with attempting to possess commercial quantities of border controlled drugs.
The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Both men appeared in Sydney Central Local Court on December 9 and were remanded to next appear in court on February 3.
Another three men were arrested by authorities in the UK and charged with conspiring to export a Class A drug.
-with AAP
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