Two Tons of Drug Worth $300m Seized, Ten People Arrested

Australian police have concluded an 18-month drug investigation with the seizure of two tons of a drug used to manufacture ice or crystal meth worth $300m aus (£180m).


Eight Canadians and two Australians were arrested by Victoria Police in the sting named Operation Diamond Back, with the final three taken into custody on Sunday in Melbourne.
One of the culprits, a 46-year-old man, was caught at the airport as he checked in for a flight back to Canada.

The other two, a 27-year-old man and 30-year-old woman, also from Canada, were arrested at a Melbourne apartment.
Around 650 kg (1,741 pounds) of pseudoephedrine was also seized from a storage facility in south Melbourne.

Part of the haul had been hidden in vanilla powder jars

Victoria Police Commissioner Steve Fontana said a Canadian-led drug syndicate had targeted Australia for its wealth and large drug market.
"Australia has been targeted by international syndicates, organised crime trying to sell their commodities in terms of drugs. Some of this material, we believe, was going to be used in the manufacture of methamphetamine in Australia," he said.

The three Canadians were arrested after police last month uncovered a haul of pseudoephedrine hidden in vanilla powder jars.
Police secretly replaced the drugs with a non-harmful substance and then closed in on the trio.
Catherine Marie McNaughton, 30, Edmond Proko, 46, and James Wray Kelsey, 27, briefly appeared in court on Monday charged with trafficking a commercial quantity of a drug of dependence.