A Canadian woman could face a maximum penalty of life in prison after Australia border officials seized 14.4 kilograms of meth on July 28, 2024.
The 24-year-old woman, whose name has not been disclosed, has appeared in a Brisbane court on charges related to the alleged importation of 14.4 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) said in an Aug. 2
joint media releease.
The AFP has charged her with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug in connection with the seizure, the release said. She could face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Border officers said they found the illegal drugs while examining her luggage after she arrived at Brisbane International Airport on July 28 on a flight from Fiji. She had started her trip in Vancouver.
The packages allegedly found in her luggage were tested and returned a “presumptive positive result” for methamphetamine, the statement said, noting that the meth was in plastic packages wrapped inside vinegar-soaked towels and layered with coffee beans.
That amount of meth could have been sold for nearly “145,000 street deals” with an estimated value of $13.4 million Australian dollars (approximately C$12.3 million), the media release said.
No further arrests have been made in connection with the case, but the release said the AFP is continuing its investigation.
Meth was linked to more than 27 hospitalizations daily in Australia in 2021–22, said Steve Wiggins, AFP detective and acting superintendent, in the media release. Use of the drug has also been connected to various criminal activities, including drug trafficking, property offences, and acts of violence.
“I’m pleased to say in this instance the AFP and the ABF stopped a significant amount of methamphetamine from reaching our streets,” Wiggins said. “The AFP and its Australian and international partners are relentless in pursuing those who try to bring illegal drugs into this country.”
Drugs From Canada
The case is one of several involving drugs originating from Canada destined for Australia in the past several years.A freight forwarding employee from Australia was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison in July for his role in a scheme to import 100 kilograms of meth from Canada.
The 41-year-old Sydney man was charged in March 2022 after a joint AFP and ABF probe into a transnational drug trafficking syndicate uncovered an attempt to transport drugs into Australia in 2021 inside a commercial dough mixer, says an AFP-ABF joint
media release. A second Sydney man was also charged in connection with the incident and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in May 2023.
A 29-year-old Canadian-French dual national was sentenced to 18 1/2 years in February 2023 for attempting to smuggle 154 kilograms of meth from Mexico into Australia, the AFP, ABF, and Victoria Police said in a joint
media release in November 2023.
Alexandre Francoise Gerard Forcade will not be eligible for parole for 13 1/2 years and will be deported back to Canada upon his release.
Forcade was linked to a “suspicious shipping container” that arrived in Melbourne from Mexico in January 2020, police said in a February 2020
media release. Border officials found “blocks of a substance” that tested positive for meth concealed inside 19 tonnes of silver concentrate.
In 2022, an estimated AU$155 million worth of cocaine and meth (about C$142 million today) was discovered inside a 1960 vintage Bentley sedan sent in a shipping container from Canada to Port Botany, just 12 kilometres south of Sydney.
An examination of the Bentley by border officials revealed 161 kilograms of meth and 30 kilograms of cocaine, the border agency said in an August 2022
press release.
Two Australian men, aged 22 and 23, were arrested and charged with importation of drugs and several other offences.
