SA man to front court charged with smuggling 3500 pseudoephedrine tablets into Australia in vitamin bottles

It looks like a box full of vitamins to combat cold and flu season, but this shipment was full of illegal drugs used to make meth.

It looks, on first glance, to be the perfect answer to the upcoming cold and flu season – a box full of vitamin B, C and D tablets, with some Omega-3 for good measure.

Fortunately, Australian Border Force officers take more than a casual glance at the packages that come their way and, in doing so, have allegedly caught a major drug syndicate in action.

A South Australian man, 36, will face the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday accused of using this box of pill bottles to smuggle 3500 pseudoephedrine tablets into the country.

The drug, which is a key ingredient in making methamphetamine, can be sold on the black market for big dollars – and its importation carries a 25-year prison term.

Australian Border Force officers intercepted these vitamin B, vitamin C and Omega-3 bottles, which actually contained 3500 pseudoephedrine tablets. Picture: Australian Border Force

On Sunday, Border Force Inspector Steve Garden told The Advertiser that, earlier this year, officers intercepted a package bound for a suburban address.

He said that package contained “vitamin bottles which returned a positive test result for pseudoephedrine”.

“Ongoing interagency investigation with South Australia Police and Australia Post has stopped a further three consignments,” he said.

“It has uncovered a criminal syndicate believed to be importing pseudoephedrine tablets to multiple metropolitan locations.”

Images provided by Australian Border Force show vitamin bottles branded Nature’s Bounty, Jamieson Vitamins and Life Brand.

Inspector Garden said that, on April 17, Border Force officers arrested the man at his home as a result of further inquiries.

Pseudoephedrine is a key ingredient in the illicit manufacture of methamphetamine. Picture: Stephen Laffer

“The importation of pseudoephedrine into Australia is prevalent and the product is utilised in clandestine drug laboratories around Adelaide,” he said.

“Our close working relationship with other agencies is pivotal in protecting the SA public, who can be reassured we are committed to prosecuting those involved in criminality.

“Our investigators carry out relentless inquiries to ensure those involved are put before the courts.

“We work tirelessly to make the Australian border a hostile environment for those seeking to conduct criminal behaviour.”

Pseudoephedrine can be purchased with a prescription in South Australia but there are major legal obligations under SA Health’s Drugs of Dependence Unit, according to the SA Health website.

Pharmacists can only supply the drug if a person provides a specified form of photo-identification or a birth certificate and sale records must be made available to the Health and Wellbeing Department chief executive and the Police Commissioner.

The man was remanded in custody to face the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday, charged with three counts of importing a marketable quantity of a controlled precursor.