Two young women charged over $21m meth smuggling plot

TWO young women face are threatened with life in jail following their shock arrest in connection with a $21m methamphetamine smuggling ring.

Rose Thomas (left) and Norma Zuniga Frias are facing serious drugs charges.

ONE of the two young woman charged over an alleged $21m meth drug plot was a budding artist whose debut exhibition was to launch a day after her shock arrest.

Norma Zuniga Frias, 25, was supposed to be at the AIRspace gallery in Sydney’s inner west on Friday night — instead the Mexican national was behind bars with close friend Rose Thomas, also 25.

The pair were charged the day before, after a raid on the Marrickville home where the women lived. The raid came after Australian Border Force intercepted 24kg of ice concealed in the shipment of eight speakers that was destined for a Sydney address.

The origin of the speakers was Mexico, a country Australian officials have thwarted 200 similar drug plots over the past two years.

Neither applied for bail or entered pleas to the charges when their matters were heard at Central Local Court last week.

Norma Alicia Zuniga Frias, 25, and Rose Thomas were arrested last week.

Ms Frias was charged with importing and possessing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, while Ms Thomas was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of ice.

“The exhibition goes hard at exploring those uncomfortable and difficult ‘taboos’ of our personal and sociopolitical lives,” Ms Frias wrote on Facebook days before her life was turned upside down. “Spanning installation, photography, drawing, performance, and digital media, the artists share their perspectives on the theme and invite you to reflect on your own.”

She moved to Australia in April last year from the Mexican city of Guadalajara and was due to return to Mexico for a short visit in June.

Her portfolio includes several works with sexual themes and that focused on gay rights. Some of the examples published online include works with naked women.

Artwork of Ms Frias has been posted online.

Another of Ms Frias’s work.

She and Ms Thomas also started a business last year called Chicken Sox a company that wanted to “provide colourful and fun socks at the perfect length”.

Ms Frias is understood to have designed the Chicken Sox products which she told friends she and “Rosie” hoped to be able to eventually sell internationally.

It isn’t known when she and Ms Thomas met however, they had visited the United States, Europe and Tasmania together.

Speaking about the seizures last week, ABF Superintendent Aviation Goods Brett Totten said the Mexican drug syndicate attempted to hide the drugs with an elaborate layer of foil.

Border Force officers found methamphetamine hidden inside imported speakers. Picture Supplied by ABF

The drugs were hidden inside speakers like these.

An X-ray of the consignment showed inconsistencies, despite the presence of a layer of silver foil the ABF believed was an attempt to defeat the security scan.

“During the examination, ABF officers located a plastic box that was wrapped in carbon paper and a layer of silver foil within the audio speakers in what was a deliberate attempt to defeat X-ray technology,” he said.

“The plastic box was found to contain a white crystalline substance which tested positive for methamphetamine.”

Photos released by the ABF show how the drugs were concealed.

Ms Thomas will next appear in court on March 23, while Ms Frias is listed to appear on May 9.