Four Melbourne men arrested at Campbellfield factory after $283m of ice found hidden in hydraulic press

The arrests follow police and border officials seizing $283m of methamphetamine hidden inside a six-tonne hydraulic press that had been shipped into Melbourne.

Three men and a 17-year-old have been charged over a massive $283 million ice importation plot after police arrested them allegedly trying to crack open boxes they thought held the drugs.

The group allegedly believed the methamphetamine was hidden in a six-tonne hydraulic press shipped into Melbourne and delivered to a factory in Campbellfield in Melbourne’s north.

But the 306kg meth consignment had already been found and confiscated by Australian Border Force officers, while the press was being tracked by the Australian Federal Police.

The haul is the latest in a long series of big cocaine and meth importation busts carried out by law enforcement.

Transnational crime syndicates view Australia as a prime import target because of high drug demand here and the market’s willingness to pay top prices.

The drugs have a street value of $283 million. Picture: Supplied

Four people, including a 17-year-old, have been arrested. Picture: Supplied

The press had been sent to Australia from the United States via sea freight and arrived in Melbourne in June.

The ABF detected abnormalities in the shipment when it arrived on June 12 and it was taken to the Melbourne Container Examination Facility.

Officers drilled into the base of the machinery where they allegedly found a white crystal-like substance.

Tests came up positive for methamphetamine and the matter was referred to AFP.

A more detailed examination found several wooden boxes were concealed inside the press and that they contained the meth.

AFP officers confiscated the drugs but tracked the consignment, which was transported to a factory in Campbellfield last Tuesday.

“Police will allege that several men then used electric tools and equipment over the course of several days to attempt to access the illicit drugs they expected to find,” an AFP statement said.

The drugs were detected after the press was X-rayed. Picture: Supplied

Raid have also been carried out in Noble Park, Narre Warren, and Campbellfield.

On Saturday, AFP investigators and members of Victoria Police arrested the four at the Campbellfield factory.

Those arrested were a 17-year-old Noble Park boy, a Noble Park man, 19, a Lynbrook man, 18, and a 20-year-old Narre Warren man.

Raids were carried out at properties in Noble Park, Narre Warren, and Campbellfield.

A connected search was made on a property in Wollstonecraft, New South Wales, where items allegedly relating to the importation and attempted possession were seized.

Those charged face counts of attempted possession of a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, a crime with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

AFP Commander Raegan Stewart said Australians consumed about 10.5 tonnes of meth each year.

“Methamphetamine continues to ravage our communities and remains the drug of most concern to Australian law enforcement,” Commander Stewart said.

“This amount of methamphetamine could have been sold as more than 3,000,000 individual street deals, and we cannot overstate the community harm this would have caused if it had not been intercepted by authorities.

“The AFP estimates about 350 drug-related hospitalisations were likely prevented by stopping this amount of methamphetamine from reaching our communities.”

ABF Commander Clinton Sims said Australia’s lucrative drug market was attractive to crime networks, but law enforcement agencies were watching.

“Australian Border Force officers work tirelessly to analyse any suspicious intelligence reports, consignment descriptions, and other red flags when examining goods entering the country,” Commander Sims said.

“These expert skills – accompanied by officer intuition – enable the ABF to disrupt the concealment attempts of these criminal networks, eliminating their chances of getting these harmful substances on the street.