{"id":23179,"date":"2022-08-26T22:44:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T02:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=23179"},"modified":"2022-08-26T22:44:17","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T02:44:17","slug":"australia-drug-bust-largest-ever-crystal-meth-haul-found-in-marble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2022\/08\/26\/australia-drug-bust-largest-ever-crystal-meth-haul-found-in-marble\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia drug bust: Largest-ever crystal meth haul found in marble"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

Almost two tonnes of methamphetamine has been seized by Australian police – the biggest bust of the drug in the country’s history.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Police found 1,800kg (283 stone) of what is known locally as ice inside shipping containers at a Sydney port.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The record haul was concealed in marble and has a street value of more than A$1.6bn ($1.1bn; \u00a3942m).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Three men have been charged over their alleged roles in importing the drugs from the Middle East.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Authorities say the men are part of a broader syndicate with international links.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

New South Wales Police said the group was “sophisticated” but officers could not believe their “audacity” in attempting to import such large drug quantities without detection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“These figures are staggering,” said Det Chief Supt John Watson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

“This seizure is the biggest in Australia’s history.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Australia is in the grip of what authorities have called an “ice epidemic”. They say the drug is fuelling violent crimes, addiction and mental health problems, particularly in regional communities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

The country has the highest reported methamphetamine use per capita in the world, with about 6% of Australians – 1.2 million people – having used the drug.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

In an unrelated investigation earlier this month, police seized over 150kg of methamphetamine from a vintage Bentley at the same Sydney port.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\"A<\/span><\/div>
\n
In a separate much smaller bust, police found drugs hidden in a vintage car (Image: NSW Police)<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Acting on a tip off, border officials X-rayed the luxury car – which had arrived from Canada – and found “anomalies”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Police then found drugs concealed behind its headlights, ultimately uncovering a total of 161kg of methamphetamine and 30kg of cocaine. Three men have been arrested.<\/p>\n

Source: bbc.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost two tonnes of methamphetamine has been seized by Australian police – the biggest bust of the drug in the country’s history. Police found 1,800kg (283 stone) of what is known locally as ice inside […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23180,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[350,5,2,6],"tags":[819,45,2512,5967,3926,8738,5427,3862],"class_list":{"0":"post-23179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"category-canada","9":"category-news","10":"category-world","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-canada","13":"tag-drug-smuggling","14":"tag-drugs-trade","15":"tag-methamphetamine","16":"tag-middle-east","17":"tag-new-south-wales","18":"tag-sydney","19":"pmpro-has-access"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23179"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23182,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23179\/revisions\/23182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}