Police find alleged $400 million meth haul in shipment of juice bottles

Three men have been arrested after allegedly attempting to import $400 million worth of meth hidden in a shipment of juice bottles in a joint operation with Canadian police.

The AFP launched an investigation into an alleged international criminal syndicate after Canadian police identified 1.2 tonnes of liquid meth in a shipment from Brazil in May.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police replaced the meth with an “inert substance” before the shipment was allowed to be sent onwards to Queensland by container ship.

The AFP intervened after the shipment arrived in the Sunshine State, arresting three men at a property in Jimboomba and at a shopping centre in Brisbane’s south last week.

The men, aged between 30 and 43, have since been charged with attempted possession of a commercial quantity of an illegally imported drug that was checked at the border.

If convicted and convicted, the men face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. They appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court last week and remain in custody.

Tests by Canadian authorities found the liquid meth to be as high as 89 percent pure, but the AFP said it would also conduct its own tests on the drugs.

According to Adrian Telfer, acting commander of the AFP, the drugs have an estimated street value of approximately $400,000, which equates to four million individual deals on the street.

“If this amount of liquid methamphetamine was converted into crystal meth and sold into the Australian community, it would have led to domestic violence, assaults and contributed to road deaths, as well as lining the pockets of organised crime,” he said.

“Through this operation, the AFP, in collaboration with our partners in Canada, prevented a significant amount of this illicit drug from reaching our communities, causing harm and putting a significant dent in the pockets of organised crime.”

The seizure was also welcomed by Canadian authorities, with Royal Canadian Mounted Police Pacific Region Deputy Regional Commander Chief Superintendent Stephen Lee stating that “transnational crime knows no borders”.