Source : Perth Now news
Three people face potential life sentences over a plot to import 120 kilograms of cocaine concealed in cabinets.
Investigations began on October 9, when Australian Border Force officers detected anomalies in a consignment from Greece.
X-rays detected 120 individual packages of cocaine inside the two cabinets, which had been declared as household furniture.
Presumptive testing identified the substance as cocaine, Australian Federal Police, the Border Force and Victoria Police said in a joint statement on Friday.
The Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce then removed the drugs and conducted a controlled delivery of the consignment to an Essendon storage facility, northwest of Melbourne’s city-centre.
A Pascoe Vale woman, 49, allegedly attended the facility on Tuesday, where she coordinated the collection and movement of the consignment.
Police will allege the woman, who was arrested later on Tuesday, was the consignee of the shipment.
A 31-year-old man from Rockbank allegedly drove the consignment to nearby Keilor, where it was opened and separated. He was later arrested.
Part of that shipment was then moved to a second vehicle and driven to Glenroy, where a 40-year-old man from Cairnlea was arrested.
The trio has been charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
Both offences carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
All three fronted Melbourne Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where the two men were formally refused bail and the woman was granted conditional bail.
They are scheduled to appear at the same court on February 10.
The arrests prevented a significant quantity of dangerous drugs from reaching Victoria’s streets, according to Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Dave Cowan.
”Illicit drugs continue to be a key driver of organised crime in Victoria, generating profits for criminals that enable them to expand their offending in the community,” Det Supt Cowan said.
“We are taking every opportunity to dismantle the organised importation of drugs.”
Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Ray Imbriano said law enforcement was working to stay on top of novel drug-smuggling methods.
“Every drug seizure represents harm prevented, criminal profits blocked and safer communities,” he said.
