Sin Keong Choong fronts court over massive meth find
A Melbourne man facing a serious drug charge allegedly drove to Sydney in a failed bid to collect 100kg of ice worth $92m hidden in leather sandals that arrived from overseas.
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A Melbourne man has been charged over his alleged involvement in an attempt to import 100kg of methamphetamine worth $92m hidden in leather sandals.
Australian Border Force officers discovered the sandals inside a consignment of six boxes from Thailand in April 2024 that were addressed to a western Sydney storage facility used by a freight forwarder after it arrived at Port Botany in Sydney.
The illicit drugs were concealed in the soles of the black leather shoes.
Sin Keong Choong, 49, of Burwood, is facing one charge of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of meth and appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
His legal team asked the court for more time to gather information such as the drug’s purity level before his committal hearing.
Mr Choong was arrested after Australian Federal Police conducted a controlled operation allegedly observed him attempting to collect the drug consignment using forged identification on May 6, 2024.
He was allegedly unable to collect the consignment and was observed driving south on the Hume Highway towards Melbourne.
Three days later, AFP executed a warrant at Mr Choong’s Burwood home and seized two mobile devices allegedly used to facilitate the importation, the fake license allegedly provided to the freight forwarder and a number of electronic devices.
ABF investigator Marc Rea said the quantity of ice seized equated to about one million individual street deals worth about $92m.
“We will allege this man was willing to drive up to Sydney at short notice to collect this consignment but the AFP stopped the onward distribution of these drugs, preventing millions of dollars from entering the criminal economy,” Mr Rea said.
Mr Choong will be back in court on March 20.
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