AFP Bust Largest Heroin Shipment In Queensland History

A massive shipment of heroin has been intercepted by police after arriving in Queensland from Malaysia.

Authorities seized a shipment of 336kg which is the largest shipment of drugs detected in Queensland.

According to the Australian Federal Police, the shipment is believed to have a street value of $268.8 million and make up close to a third of the country’s heroin consumption.

"ABF officers detected the illicit drugs inside two concrete blocks, each weighing about 500kg, that were marked as solar panel accessories inside a sea freight container addressed to an industrial lot in Brendale, north of Brisbane," AFP said in a statement. 

"The shipment arrived on 13 March, 2023, at the Port of Brisbane, where ABF officers examined the container and identified hundreds of packages hidden within cement blocks that made up part of the consignment."

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Police will allege that the shipment was picked up by a man using a rented truck before being transported to a shed in Mount Druitt.

The man was arrested the following day when he allegedly returned to the Mount Druitt shed.

"AFP investigators then executed a series of search warrants at businesses and homes in NSW and Queensland, including at Brendale in Queensland and Mount Druitt, Blacktown, Auburn, Cecil Park and Constitution Hill in NSW," the AFP said.

"Police seized jewellery worth an estimated $700,000 from the Auburn man's home as well as electronic devices.

"Items seized from other locations included mobile phones, cash, hard drives, notebooks and other parts of the reconstructed consignment."

Police charged a 55-year-old man with multiple offences including importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.

If found guilty, the man could face life behind bars.

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