Australian ‘drug dealers’ are arrested over plot to smuggle 850kg of ecstasy worth $300million from Europe as police raid 15 drug labs
- Two men facing charges of plotting to import 850kg of MDMA worth $300m
- The Sydney ‘drug dealers’ extradited to QLD over import from The Netherlands
- Dutch authorities uncovered drug labs disguised to look like barns in 2019
Two Sydney men have been extradited to Queensland to face charges over a plot to import 850kg of MDMA worth more than $300 million into Australia from the Netherlands.
The Australian Federal Police said the investigation began in 2019 when they tipped off Dutch authorities.
The AFP and Queensland police worked with officers in The Netherlands and Belgium to intercept the huge haul in the Dutch city of Rotterdam in August 2019.
Two Sydney men have been extradited to Queensland to face charges over a plot to import 850kg of MDMA worth more than $300 million into Australia from the Netherlands (Stock)
Three months later, Dutch authorities raided 15 locations in those two countries earlier this month, uncovering drug labs disguised to look like barns from the outside.
Hundreds of kilos of hard and liquid drugs and other drug paraphernalia were concealed within fake walls, floors and ceilings of the buildings.
In all, 850kg of MDMA was seized, along with 548L of MDMA oil and 400L of precursor chemicals.
The AFP said that’s enough to make 15 million MDMA pills with a street value of more than $300 million.
Australia is a primary market in the global drug trade because locals are willing to pay a high price for substances that cost a mere fraction elsewhere.
An MDMA pill that costs 20 cents in Amsterdam will fetch $20-$30 on Australian streets.
The Australian Federal Police said the investigation began in 2019 when they tipped off Dutch authorities (Stock)
