Melbourne man refused bail over alleged role in smuggling $90m of meth into Australia

A Melbourne man has been refused bail over his alleged role in smuggling 100kg of meth into Australia hidden inside leather sandals.

The Melbourne man, a Malaysian national, was refused bail.

A Melbourne man has been refused bail over his alleged role in smuggling 100kg of meth into Australia hidden inside leather sandals.

The man, a Malaysian national, was allegedly part of a network that attempted to ship six boxes of the shoes, which had the drug concealed in the soles, to Port Botany in NSW from Thailand.

The stash worth more than $90m was addressed to a Sydney storage facility where authorities caught the 49-year-old trying to collect the shipment using a forged ID earlier this week.

Federal police raided his Burwood home and arrested him on Thursday after tracking him along the Hume Hwy as he headed back to Melbourne from NSW.

The man appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday where he was refused bail, charged with possessing a commercial quantity of meth, which carries a maximum jail term of life in prison.

The substance found inside the soles of leather sandals was found to be meth.

More than 100kg of meth was detected.

The substance was found in the soles of the sandals.

The haul is estimated to be worth $90m.

ABF Inspector Marc Rea said organised crime groups tried anything they could to sneak dangerous drugs into Australia.

“ABF officers were quick to note the anomalies within this consignment, identifying a large quantity of methamphetamine which equates to approximately one million individual street deals,” he said.

“That’s $92 million worth of this insidious drug that won’t end up on our streets. ABF officers will continue to work closely with our federal and state partners to keep Australians safe.”

AFP Sergeant Alex Drummond said Operation Birkin, which began last month after Border Force officials detected the unusual delivery, had stopped millions of dollars worth of drugs from flooding the streets.

“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,” he said.

“The AFP will continue to work tirelessly to keep these dangerous drugs off the streets and ensure those hellbent on poisoning the community see justice.”