In a joint operation with Hong Kong police, Australian police said on Sunday (Oct. 30) that they seized liquid methamphetamine worth about AU $1.6 billion (US$1 billion) in Hong Kong. The drugs head to Australia.
According to a statement from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), its agents and the Australian Border Force in Hong Kong worked with Hong Kong Customs and Excise (HKCE) to seize a “record-breaking” 1.8 tonnes of the substance. AFP says that information they got from Mexico and from the Australian Department of Home Affairs helped them find the illegal shipment.
The report says that HKCE found the meth on October 23 after working with other countries to find the drug hidden in coconut water cartons.
AFP said that the drugs could go to New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state. On the street, they were worth about A$1.62 billion, and at wholesale, they were worth about A$540 million.
“Officers in Mexico used their connections throughout the world to inform AFP officers in Hong Kong about the suspected shipment travelling from Mexico to Australia via Hong Kong,” the statement read. Investigations are still going on to find the serious transnational organized criminals who were behind the plot.
The amount of liquid meth was a record seizure for Hong Kong, an AFP spokesman told Reuters. It might have been sold as almost 18 million street-level transactions, according to the agency. “Ice” is the street name for the drug methylamphetamine. It has a white “crystal” look that is like glass. Ice is a type of amphetamine that is one of the strongest.
