Crime syndicates using ‘ingenious’ tactics to smuggle drugs

ABF officers have intercepted a sea cargo consignment bound for Ade­laide with 313kg of crystal methamphetamine aboard.

Australian Border Force officers intercepted a sea cargo consignment bound for Ade­laide last month and discovered 313kg of crystal methamphetamine.

South Australia’s biggest ice seizure has demonstrated the ­increasingly “ingenious” methods of concealment used by criminal syndicates, police say.

Acting on intelligence from state police, Australian Border Force officers intercepted a sea cargo consignment bound for Ade­laide last month and discovered 313kg of crystal methamphetamine — with an estimated value of $270 million — hidden in a crane jib.

It follows the record Australian seizure of 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine, worth more than $1 billion, in the West Australian town of Geraldton in December.

AFP Assistant Commissioner of organised crime and cyber Neil Gaughan said there was “a lot more work to be done”, and police would be looking to future ­­­Nat­ional wastewater drug monitoring results to assess their ­effectiveness.

Wastewater analysis conducted for the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission tracks the nation’s drug use, with the most recent report in December stating demand for ice and ­related drugs remained resilient.

“The coming wastewater analysis will give us a good idea as to how successful we’re being. That’s really the only matrix we’ve got to measure success,” Mr Gaughan said yesterday. “Record seizures is one thing, usage is probably the better determinant as to whether you’re being successful or not. There’s definitely been a reduction (but) we probably need to wait another one or two wastewater analysis samples to determine what sort of impact we’re having.”

Police raided three properties at Waterloo Corner, Green Fields and Two Wells and ­arrested three men aged 64, 61, and 45 on Friday in connection to the latest seizure. They ­appeared in court yesterday and face potential life sentences.

The drugs were found packaged in 313 clip seal bags inside the metal base to one of the jib arms and most likely originated in Southeast Asia.

Mr Gaughan said the concealment was “sophisticated”, which was “becoming more the norm”.

“You don’t get simple hides any more. The technology and capability of ours is improving, therefore their concealment methods need to become quite ­innovative,” he said.

“No doubt someone’s spending a lot of money on R & D trying to work out how they can hide these things. You come up with something — machine parts, televisions, microwaves, you name it — they’re trying to hide in it.

“Our officers and ABF officers are increasingly surprised by the sophistication and the ingenious nature of the hides.’’

Adelaide was labelled our “meth capital” after the latest wastewater report, recording a peak of about 80 doses of the drug per 1000 people a day compared with the national capital city average of just over 30 doses per 1000 ­people a day.