Australian authorities have seized an exceptionally large shipment of amphetamine in a shipping container at a port in New South Wales, among the largest ever found in the region.
On August 20, a team of Australian Border Force officers used intelligence profiling to pick a container for extra scrutiny at Port Botany. When they x-rayed the box, which was marked “vegetable spring roll and more,” they found that the “and more” part of the cargo declaration was accurate. Instead of spring rolls, they found hundreds of boxed rolls of shrink-wrap packaging, each roll filled with a core of white granules. The substance tested positive for amphetamine.
In total, the concealed drugs amounted to about 900 kilos of amphetamine, worth a total of $40 million on the street in Australia.
The ABF turned the matter over to the Australian Federal Police, which determined that the shipment was linked to a serious organized crime group with transnational ties. The drug consignment was added to a legimate shipment, authorities believe, without the cargo owners’ knowledge.
