Australian police say they have busted a major drug ring after seizing a record haul of methamphetamine and heroin worth $526 million (500 million Australian dollars) that was stuffed into terra cotta pots.
More than 674 pounds of crystal methamphetamine and 555 pounds of heroin were seized as part of an operation that began a year ago when the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration tipped off officials that an international crime syndicate was planning to import drugs to Australia. Police targeted two massive cargo containers containing 3,200 terra cotta pots coming from Thailand.
X-rays of the containers showed what was probably drugs heavily packed into 100 pots, officials said Tuesday in Australia.
The pots were sealed with a putty-like substance to conceal the drugs, officials said.
"The actual concealment itself wasn't particularly sophisticated: terra cotta pots concealed in bulk on pallets within cardboard boxes and then shrink-wrapped," said Mike Pezzullo of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service.
Officials from the two investigating agencies in Australia said it was the largest seizure of methamphetamine in the country's history and the third largest of heroin.
Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner of Operations Andrew Colvin said that through the course of the investigation, authorities kept close watch on suspects as they tracked the shipment.
Four suspects from Hong Kong and three Australians were arrested as part of the operation, the Australian Federal Police and Australian Customs and Border Protection Service announced. The men face a maximum penalty of life in prison on charges of possession or attempting to possess commercial quantities of methamphetamine or heroin.
“This operation follows the AFP’s most successful year in terms of drug seizures," Colvin said in a news release. “In the 2011/12 financial year, the AFP and its partner agencies seized almost 14 tons of illicit substances bound for drug distribution networks across Australia."
Colvin said that was in large part due to the collaboration between international intelligence groups.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Did Walter White get caught?
Nah, he's already on the next cook
MMmmfff- umf- grunt- hmmfff- mmm!!!!
Dadd! whens breakfast?
how do they come up with these dollar amounts? they are always way over the real amount . it is lots of drugs but be real about the dollar amount.
Party is off this weekend
Decriminalize it. Stop the sham. The bust is an indicator that drugs are more available, not the efficacy of law enforcement that is clearly overwhelmed, having not made a dent in drug trade for several decades now. Why do we accept such failure?
Legalize marijuana, but I'm glad they got this crap off the streets. I don't consider myself a hypocrite... this stuff is poison, marijuana is not.
Now the drug addicts will have to resort to additional crimes against the australian population to compensate for the increase in street price of the drugs due to decreased supplu. Legalize and tax it all.
get your facts straight we drink white lighting not everclear
Here in VA we drink them both.
I'm guessing either it's a misprint, hyper-inflated or Australians pay a LOT higher prices than other places. The pounds the articles lists are a combined total of 1229 lbs or ~557 kilos. Now then, understandably meth and heroin are likely sold at different prices. HOWEVER, combined weight vs. the "street value" listed would make it $944,348 per kilo! That is much, MUCH higher than any other article I've seen.
And more importantly, yes, glad the crap is off the streets.
It's not going to affect the birthers and tea partiers? So you're saying it's going to affect the Democrats? Isn't that a bit insulting?
These agencies are DOOFS, they aren't seizing more due to better investigative skills ... They are seizing more because demand is up and there's more passing accross the border. This seizure does nothing about the demand. The same people still used as they had planned to and got high as all getout. There was probably narry a blip in the supply chain.
These efforts do nothing, stop nothing, solve nothing and help nothing BUT they cost a TON of money from surveillance and manpower all the way to legislation, court costs to prosecute, and housing inmates. It's what you call a high cost/low reward scenario and govs all over the world seem to enjoy low benefit investments so ... rock on?
Morons.
Glad it wasn't Marijuana.
I agree. Legalize herb no doubt, but meth is no-joke an addictive poison.
no worries heroin junkies....we have the best military money can buy securing all you need in Afghanistan as we speak
Well Mr. Milo Minderbinder, Dick Cheney, and his new partner Rupert Mudoch, are well insulated from their latest attempt to quadruple their investment...good thing too..They would not like prison life...
Assuming the value of these drugs were the same, they are valuing them at ~$944 a gram. Does anyone else think that seems a bit excessive (or that I made a math error?)
One of the stupidest responses ever...get a life!