CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australian and British police have arrested 12 members of a drug smuggling ring after ecstasy tablets were found concealed in the doors of refrigerators shipped to Australia from Britain, officials say.
Acting Australian Justice Minister Amanda Vanstone said 165,000 ecstasy tablets, with an estimated street value of A$11.5 million (4.8 million pounds), were discovered when the shipment reached Melbourne in the southern state of Victoria.
“Acting on information provided by the Australian Federal Police, customs used its high-tech container examination facility in Melbourne to detect the illicit consignment, despite sophisticated concealment,” a customs service spokesman said on Thursday.
Police and customs officials replaced the tablets with a harmless substance and then tracked the six fridges as they were transported to a warehouse in Sydney, a 10-hour drive away.
In a co-ordinated operation, four people were arrested at the warehouse on Wednesday and police arrested four others after searching eight premises and four vehicles in Sydney. Two others were arrested in Darwin in Australia’s far north.
All 10 were charged with conspiracy to import a prohibited substance and will appear in Sydney and Darwin courts on Thursday.
Meanwhile Britain’s National Crime Squad arrested two people, including the suspected leader of the syndicate.
From Reuters UK