Three people have been charged over an alleged plot to import 120kg of cocaine hidden inside household cabinets, with the offences carrying a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Australian Border Force officers began investigating on October 9 after detecting irregularities in a consignment sent from Greece. X-rays revealed 120 individual packages concealed inside two cabinets that had been declared as furniture.
Presumptive testing identified the substance as cocaine, according to a joint statement from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and Victoria Police.
Investigators from the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce removed the drugs before allowing a controlled delivery to continue to a storage facility in Essendon, north-west of Melbourne’s city centre.
A 49-year-old woman from Pascoe Vale allegedly went to the facility on Tuesday and coordinated the collection and movement of the consignment. Police allege she was the consignee, or named recipient, of the shipment. She was arrested later that day.
A 31-year-old man from Rockbank allegedly drove the cabinets to nearby Keilor, where the consignment was opened and separated. He was subsequently arrested.
Part of the shipment was then transferred to a second vehicle and taken to Glenroy, where a 40-year-old man from Cairnlea was arrested.
The trio have been charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
The two men were formally refused bail when all three appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. The woman was granted conditional bail. They are due to return to the same court on February 10.
Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Dave Cowan said the seizure had prevented a significant quantity of dangerous drugs from reaching the state’s streets.
“Illicit drugs continue to be a key driver of organised crime in Victoria, generating profits for criminals that enable them to expand their offending in the community,” he said.
“We are taking every opportunity to dismantle the organised importation of drugs.”
Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Ray Imbriano said law enforcement agencies were working to keep pace with new methods of drug smuggling.
“Every drug seizure represents harm prevented, criminal profits blocked and safer communities,” he said.
