50-year-old Hurstville man and two women from Allawah, aged 28 and 25, were charged with importing and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of cocaine.
The Hurstville man will also be charged with dealing with proceeds of crime worth $1 million or more under section 400.3 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.
The 28-year-old woman will appear in Sutherland Local Court today, while the other two people were refused bail to appear in Central Local Court today.
It will be alleged in court that the syndicate concealed the cocaine in one kilogram portions inside packets labelled as green tea. The packets were contained in 10 boxes inside a shipping container of furniture.
As a result of inquiries by JACG investigators, Customs officers inspected the shipping container upon its arrival in Sydney from South East Asia on Tuesday, 4 March and discovered the concealment.
Over the past week, JACG members monitored the delivery of the consignment to a factory warehouse in Auburn in Sydney's west.
Yesterday, search warrants were executed throughout the day at nine locations in Hurstville, Allawah, Rockdale, Auburn, Glebe and the Sydney CBD, during which the two women were arrested. The 50-year-250 kilograms of the powder was found hidden inside green tea packets, on a furniture shipping container, which arrived in Sydney on March 4.Sydney police and customs have seized $87 million worth of cocaine, found on a shipping container from South-east Asia, making it the fourth largest bust in Australian history.
'That's one quarter of a tonne of cocaine that won't be on the streets of Sydney tonight dealing misery,' said NSW Police Commissioner, Andrew Scipione.The breakthrough is the result of an eight week investigation by the Joint Asian Crime Group.The drugs were substituted and monitored for a week before search warrants were executed on nine Sydney properties, resulting in the arrests of a 50 year old man, and two women, aged 25 and 28. All are facing drug importation charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.Police have praised the operation, saying law enforcement in this country is up to the challenge of catching traffickers.
'This is further evidence of the Federal Police and the state police and customs and a number of other agencies working together to get the result that we've seen today,' said Mr Scipione.Police aren't ruling out the possibility of more arrests relating to the million dollar drug haul.
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