SDYNEY: Australian police have charged three men with alleged links to an Iranian organised crime syndicate over a failed plot to import more than 100 kilogrammes of methamphetamine.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) on Friday said that the three men, a 46-year-old and 41-year-old from western Sydney and a 40-year-old from Melbourne, were on Tuesday charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The men were arrested after the Australian Border Force (ABF) earlier in February intercepted an air cargo shipment from southwest Asia that contained hip flasks in 400 boxes that were manufactured from methamphetamine.
Forensic testing found that the shipment contained about 110 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, Xinhua news agency reported. The AFP said the quantity had a street value of about 100 million Australian dollars (63.8 million US dollars) and would have potentially supplied 1.1 million street deals.
The AFP identified the 46-year-old, who accepted delivery of the shipment, as an alleged member of the Iranian syndicate and monitored him as he met with other alleged members.
Officers executed a search warrant at a property in Sydney's western suburbs where they located items consistent with drug manufacturing and currency suspected of being proceeds of crime.
The other two men were arrested following a search of a second nearby property.
Last November, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) arrested an 18-year-old Italian man after officers allegedly found 15 kg of methamphetamine in his luggage at Sydney Airport.
According to authorities, the quantity of methamphetamine could have supplied 150, 000 street deals with an estimated value of 13 million Australian dollars (about $8.4 million).
"Despite all the risks involved, we are still regularly arresting people who have attempted to bring illicit drugs into our country through our airports, " AFP Detective Superintendent Morgen Blunden had said in a statement.
A report published by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission earlier in November identified methamphetamine as the second-most consumed illicit drug in Australia behind cannabis.