Aust'n authorities uncover 350 kg of illegal drugs in shipping container

A haul of cocaine and methamphetamines worth 140 million U.S. dollars has been uncovered by Australian border officials.

The drugs were discovered by new hi-tech x-ray equipment in a shipping container that had arrived in Melbourne from South Africa.

The alleged drug traffickers tried to trick the scanners by hiding the drugs within shards of coal and other mining machinery.

Inside the container border officials found 254 kg of cocaine and 104 kg of methamphetamine, worth approximately 140 million U.S. dollars.

Four men, one in Melbourne and three in Sydney, have been arrested on charges of drug trafficking.

Having discovered the drugs, officers put the packages back where they found them and allowed them to continue to their destination in a controlled delivery.

When the drugs had arrived in Sydney, police carried out a series of search warrants and arrested the four men, aged 47, 75, 39 and 38, respectively.

John Beveridge, Commander of the Australian Federal Police (AFP), said the force and its partners would continue to aim at "those who believe they are above the law."

"These arrests send a strong message to criminals who choose to import harmful drugs into our community for their own profits - you will be caught, no matter how creative you believe your concealment method may be," he said.

The four men arrested face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

source: Xinhua