Four men face court after Australian Federal Police seize 622kg of ice hidden inside shipment of toilet paper

Four men have fronted court after 622kg of ice hidden inside a shipment of toilet paper was seized in what Australian Federal Police say is one of the biggest meth busts in the state’s history.

Police have seized 622kg of meth in Melbourne. Picture: Michael Klein

Police will probe whether any Victorians helped four alleged members of a transnational organised crime syndicate smuggle one of the state’s largest ever meth hauls inside toilet rolls.

The Australian Federal Police this week arrested four men accused of hijacking a legitimate cleaning company’s shipment of toilet paper to smuggle 622kg of crystal meth into Melbourne on a ship travelling from Malaysia.

The haul is believed to be one of the largest seizures in Victoria’s history, with a street value of nearly $560m that would have made up more than six million individual street deals.

Each kilogram of meth was wrapped inside tea packaging then buried under three pallets of toilet paper seized by Border Force officials when the delivery arrived in Melbourne on October 4.

Victoria Police Detective Superintendent Dan Ryan said the massive haul highlighted Australia’s “insatiable appetite” for illicit drugs that made the country a “lucrative market for organised crime”.

“These drugs are imported by these organised crime groups. They don’t see borders and their sole motivation is profit and greed,” he said.

Four accused organised crime figures allegedly tried to smuggle 622kg of meth into Melbourne.

“The seizure is quite significant. We’ll look to follow up every avenue possible and follow up further lines of inquiry to identify more of those persons involved.”

Det Insp Ryan said Victoria Police had a “zero-tolerance” approach to drug smugglers.

He said drugs were the underlying cause of the majority of the 40 non-fatal shootings that had occurred in Victoria this year so far.

Chinese nationals Wai Cheung, 32, and Hailong Lin, 33, Hong Kong national Ka Ng, 33, and Malaysian national Bing Koo, 34, fronted the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The court heard Mr Koo was withdrawing from methamphetamines and would need to see a custody nurse.

None of the men made applications for bail and were remanded in custody.

They have each been charged with attempting to possess unlawfully an imported quantity of border controlled drugs and face the possibility of life behind bars.

The major bust was uncovered under Operation Improcco, a joint effort between the AFP and the ABF as part of the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce (JOCTF).

A “complex investigation” will explore whether any Victorians or other criminal groups were also involved.

The huge stash uncovered by authorities @theheraldsunhttps://t.co/NZ7RZUpK6ppic.twitter.com/IML6OdHJBO

— Olivia Jenkins (@byoliviajenkins) October 12, 2023

Australian Border Force Commander Clint Sims said the potential to make “mind-boggling” profits motivated organised crime groups to target Australians willing to fork out large sums of cash for illegal drugs.

“While this is a very significant seizure, it is a drop in the ocean compared to everything that is flooding into Australia,” he said.

“The organised crime syndicates are relentless, but so are we.”

AFP investigations commander Raegan Stewart said authorities would do everything in their power to dismantle the criminal syndicate.

“We will not stop to work together to identify and disrupt your criminal organisations and bring you to justice,” she said.

Police seized 903kg of meth concealed in 70 boxes of floorboards at a Nunawading factory in 2017 and uncovered Australia’s largest ketamine haul on a rural property in Lara in July.

The four men will return to court on February 1.