Three men charged over alleged importation of liquid meth

Three Queensland men have been charged over their alleged involvement in a scheme to import 1.2 tonnes of liquid methamphetamine into Australia, following a major international investigation involving Canadian authorities.

The drugs, hidden in juice bottles, were intercepted by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) before reaching Brisbane.

The men, aged 30, 35 and 43, were arrested last week by Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers at a Jimboomba estate and a Browns Plains shopping centre.

The arrests followed an ongoing investigation into a transnational organized crime syndicate.

The liquid meth, estimated to have a street value of $400 million after being converted into crystal form, could have resulted in four million individual street deals.

Canadian officials discovered the shipment in Vancouver in May after it arrived from Brazil.

Working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the CBSA replaced the drugs with an inert substance so the shipment could be forwarded to Brisbane.

Upon arrival on September 3, the shipment was delivered to Jimboomba, where it was stored in a large warehouse.

Shortly afterwards, AFP officers arrested the suspects.

All three men appeared in court in Brisbane. The 43-year-old Jimboomba man is due to appear again on Tuesday, while the other two will appear in court later this week.

They have all been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of illegally imported methamphetamine, a crime punishable by up to life in prison.

According to Adrian Telfer, acting commander of the AFP, the potential harm to society from such a large quantity of methamphetamine cannot be overstated.

“If this meth were sold, it could have fueled domestic violence, assaults and traffic fatalities, while also benefiting organized crime,” he said.

Both the RCMP and the AFP praised the cooperation between international agencies and highlighted the success of transnational partnerships in the fight against global drug trafficking.

The AFP will conduct further forensic examinations on the liquid meth to determine its exact purity.