Attempt to smuggle 300kg of meth into Melbourne, hidden inside surfboards

Two men from Melbourne’s south east are facing life behind bars after police allege they attempted to smuggle 300kg of meth into the city, hidden inside surfboards.

Two men from Melbourne’s south east are facing life behind bars after police orchestrated a dummy meth delivery hidden inside surfboards.

Police say the pair, a 33-year-old Burwood man and a 33-year-old man from Ferntree Gully, are part of a Chinese and Taiwanese international crime syndicate operating out of Melbourne who have smuggled up to 300kg of meth into Australia.

They were busted after the Australian Border Force detected meth inside their surfboard shipment at Melbourne Airport and the Australian Federal Police decided to switch the powder with a fake substance to track its delivery to a storage unit in Dandenong.

Police say 12 surfboards, which had been taken apart and reconstructed with 78kg of the illegal drug hidden inside their linings, arrived in Melbourne from Los Angeles on August 11.

Two men from Melbourne’s south east are facing life behind bars. Picture: AFP

The pair were busted after the Australian Border Force detected meth inside their surfboard shipment. Picture: AFP

The Burwood man and another man from NSW signed for the delivery in Dandenong on August 23 before the NSW man drove the 12 boards to his house in Punchbowl in Sydney.

Both Melbourne men also took part of a second shipment, believed to contain up to 300kg of meth, to a storage unit in Preston before authorities stormed the facility on August 30, where they found moulds and other items laced with meth that was likely to be extracted at a later date.

Police arrested both Melbourne men on Tuesday.

Chen Chen and He-Cheng Huang faced Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday and were remanded into custody.

They will return to Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on January 10, 2024.

The charges carry a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

AFP Detective Superintendent Jason McArthur said meth was an “extremely addictive” drug that caused psychological, financial and social harm to its users.

“This seizure demonstrates the importance of collaboration between law enforcement partners to disrupt attempts by organised crime to import illicit drugs into Victoria and profit at the expense of the community,” he said.

Police say 12 surfboards had been taken apart and reconstructed with 78kg of the illegal drug hidden inside their linings. Picture: AFP

Police have uncovered 300kg of meth hidden inside surfboards in Melbourne. Picture: AFP

ABF acting Superintendent Felicity Wicks said the 300kg shipment would have caused “more violence, crime and drug addiction” if it had made its way onto Melbourne streets.

“Criminals attempt to use all kinds of crafty ways to circumvent our officers at the border but

detections like this one show that we are yet again a step ahead,” she said.

“The illicit drug supply chain is littered with violence and had this amount of methamphetamine made its way onto our streets, it would have spread through our suburbs, fuelling more violence, crime and drug addiction.”

Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Dave Cowan from the Organised Crime Division said meth use had a ripple effect throughout the community.

“The impact it has on human behaviour translates into road trauma, family violence, homicides, shootings and other violent offending intrinsically linked to the illicit drug trade,” he said.

“Let me be clear. There is no safe illicit drug to take. Every single time you engage in illicit drug taking, you put yourself at risk of harm, as well as every single person around you.