MELBOURNE: Federal authorities have unearthed an unprecedented 73 kilograms of street drugs worth more than $46 million allegedly hidden in suitcases and smuggled into Melbourne Airport with three travellers.
The luggage of three Malaysian nationals was intercepted by the Australian Border Force after they arrived on a flight from Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
Two of the men have since been charged with importing more than 70 kilograms of illicit drugs.
Border Force officers allegedly detected “anomalies” in the men’s luggage, which Australian Federal Police later determined to be about 55 kilograms of methamphetamine and 18 kilograms of heroin.
They estimate the combined street value of the drugs at $46.9 million.
AFP officers delivered the suitcases to a hotel in Melbourneand arrested all three men.
Two men were charged with importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.
They were due to appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
The third man is expected to be charged at a later date.
AFP acting national manager of crime operations Paul Osborne said the drugs could have caused “immeasurable harm” in the community.
ABF Acting Commissioner Michael Outram said the seizure was one of the largest in Australian history at an Australian international airport.
“Today we have successfully taken an enormous and unprecedented portion [of drugs] off the streets of Victoria and the effects of this great seizure will be seen far and wide across the Australian community,” he said.
