Police make record ketamine seizure
Police have made the largest ketamine seizure in Australian history, leading to the arrests of three men from an alleged Victorian crime syndicate.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) seized 174kg of ketamine, most of which was hidden inside tubs of liquid cement sent from Spain to Australia.
The haul has an estimated wholesale value of $6.9m.
An investigation was launched after Spanish authorities tipped off the AFP about a suspicious consignment sent by sea cargo that landed in Melbourne on June 26.
Inside the consignment were 360 buckets of liquid cement, 40 of which contained a total of 80kg of ketamine hidden inside plastic tubes.
AFP officers then conducted a “controlled operation”, delivering the consignment to a property in Merrimu on Tuesday.
A 33-year-old Sunshine North man allegedly collected the ketamine and transported it to a rural property near Geelong where two other alleged members of the syndicate poured out the liquid concrete to locate the drugs, police say.
AFP and Victorian police officers then raided the property, arresting the three men and seizing multiple opened buckets of cement and other material, mobile phones and additional evidence relating to the importation.
Police also located a further 80kg of suspected ketamine buried in the ground at the Lara address, as well as two high powered gel blasters, about 25kg of suspected MDMA and approximately 14kg of suspected ketamine, along with an estimated $210,000 in cash.
A 37-year-old Altona man was importing a commercial quantity of ketamine and possessing commercial quantities of the unlawfully imported drug among other charges.
The Sunshine North man was charged with two drug related offences and a 32-year-old Hoppers Crossing man was charged with attempting to possess commercial quantities of the drug.
The maximum penalty for these offences is life imprisonment.
