Three busted in huge AFP drug raid

Three alleged members of a transnational crime gang have been arrested over some of Australia’s largest drug imports.

Three alleged members of a transnational crime gang linked to some of Australia’s largest drug imports have been arrested in the Philippines after an international investigation.

Three men – a French national, 41, a Canadian, 33, and a Filipino, 41 – were arrested and charged last month with serious drug offences, after an international team of cops discovered their underground meth operation, Australian Federal Police said on Sunday.

The men have been charged in the Philippines with one count of manufacture of dangerous drugs, one count of possession of dangerous drugs, and one count of possessing paraphernalia for dangerous drugs. They face life imprisonment.

Three men were arrested after a secret meth lab was discovered. Picture: AFP.

AFP officers in Manila began providing intelligence to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency last year in a bid to solve the gang’s connections to some of Australia’s largest meth and cocaine imports.

Filipino law enforcement allegedly identified multiple suspects and two properties in Manila, linked to four massive drug busts in Australia in the past 18 months. Search warrants were issued, and police found a secret meth lab inside one of the properties before making the arrests.

Investigators seized about 22 kilograms of suspected methamphetamine, 770 grams of cocaine, precursor chemicals, drug-making equipment, mobile phones, several identification cards and financial documents from the properties.

Shipments sent from the Philippines totalled 1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine and 450 kilograms of cocaine – the equivalent of more than 15 million street drug deals, AFP said.

1.5 tonnes of methamphetamine have been shipped from the Philippines to Australia. Picture: AFP.

450 kilograms of cocaine has also been shipped. Picture: AFP.

AFP claimed to have saved the community more than $900 million in drug-related harm by stopping the shipments from hitting the streets.

“Organised crime groups may think they can avoid police scrutiny when they operate across multiple countries, but they are wrong,” AFP senior officer in Manila Andrew Perkins said.

“This operation again highlights how law enforcement agencies share intelligence across borders to cause maximum damage to these transnational criminal networks.”

Police discovered the secret meth lab at a property in Manila. Picture: AFP.

Investigations into the alleged network are ongoing, as are inquiries into where the drugs originated.

“We will allege this group was manufacturing methamphetamine in a residential neighbourhood without any regard for the welfare of children and adults living nearby,” a spokesperson for the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency said.

“We will not allow the Philippines to be a safe haven for criminals; we are working with our international partners to make our country a hostile place for anyone involved in the illicit drug trade.”