$2bn drugs haul: Australian, Chinese police hammer ice syndicate
ALMOST 7.5 tonnes of illicit drugs — worth $2 billion — have been seized in a joint investigation by Australian and Chinese police.
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ILLICIT drugs worth $2 billion have been seized in a joint investigation by Australian and Chinese police.
Almost 7.5 tonnes of illicit substances, including crystal methamphetamine, or ice, have been confiscated since November 2015.
The Australian Federal Police and their counterparts in China focused their investigation on Guangzhou province in southeast China, the epicentre of an illicit trade accounting for 70 per cent of ice smuggled into Australia.
Figures released to the Herald Sun reveal that as of February 18, 7356kg of drugs and precursors had been seized.
In Australia, police seized 2414kg of drugs and precursors, worth a total of just over $1 billion. This haul included 1633kg of methamphetamine, 581kg of ephedrine, and 200kg of cocaine.
In China, police seized 4942.84kg of drugs and precursors, worth $1.1 billion. That includes 935.12kg of ice, 15.9kg of liquid methamphetamine, 680kg of ecstasy, and 3311.8kg of precursor material.
The joint police investigation, known as Taskforce Blaze, focused on airports, seaports, and on mail and parcel post distribution centres in China and Australia.
Federal Justice Minister Michael Keenan said organised crime “knows no borders”, and the co-operation between Australia and China occurring as a result of the taskforce’s work was paying “substantial dividends”.
The intelligence exchange was crucial to identifying syndicates and individuals exporting crystal methamphetamine from China, he said.
“This is the first ever joint agency taskforce of its kind in the world and is proving to be as successful as it is unprecedented,” Mr Keenan told the Herald Sun.
“Together, our countries are disrupting the trade of organised criminals that peddle in the misery of drug trafficking,” he said.
