Australian border officials have seized a shipment 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. The street value is 268.8 million Australian dollars (168 million euros). It is 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 immeasurable harm to the community and put a strain on our health care system and social services – all in the name of greed,” police spokesman John Tanti said. The confiscation is an enormous financial blow for the smugglers.
