drugs
Second largest heroin find ever in Australia
Heroin seized by Brisbane police. photo
© Russell Freeman/AAP/dpa
960 packets, each 350 grams of heroin, a street value of around 168 million euros: These are the key data of the historic find in Brisbane.
Mega drug find in Australia: The border authorities have confiscated a delivery of 336 kilos of heroin from Malaysia on the east coast of the country in Brisbane. That’s a third of the amount consumed annually across the country, the National Police said on Tuesday. The street value is 268.8 million Australian dollars (168 million euros). It was the largest heroin discovery of all time in the state of Queensland – and the second largest nationwide.
Officials discovered the drugs in a sea freight container in two concrete blocks, each weighing about 500 kilograms. These were declared as accessories for solar technology. The shipment was addressed to an industrial site in Brendale, north of Brisbane. Inside the blocks were found his 960 packets, each containing 350 grams of heroin.
A man from Sydney was arrested in connection with the find, it said. The 55-year-old faces a life sentence. “This amount of heroin would have caused untold damage to the community and put a strain on our health care and social services systems – all in the name of greed,” police spokesman John Tanti said. The confiscation is an enormous financial blow for the smugglers.