February 06, 2007 Brisbane, Australia
80,000 ecstasy pills seized at Brisbane Airport, four people arrested

Three Brisbane people were last night arrested and charged over their alleged involvement in an importation of approximately 80,000 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets into Australia in toy boxes, following a joint Customs and Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation.

One man was also arrested and charged with attempting to posses a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

The AFP will allege the MDMA has an approximate street value of $3.2 million.

On February 6, Customs officers at Brisbane Airport intercepted two cardboard packages from the United Kingdom containing a shoe box and a children's toy box. Inside each of the boxes were vacuum sealed plastic bags which the AFP will allege in court contained MDMA tablets.

A further two packages allegedly containing MDMA tablets destined for the same Brisbane address were also intercepted.

Customs officers referred the matter to the AFP who then substituted the tablets with an inert substance and yesterday delivered the packages to an address in Redbank Plains where a 42-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were arrested.

The 42-year-old woman was charged with conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

A 20-year-old Redbank Plains man was charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

A 41-year-old man and a 39-year-old woman, both from Redbank, were later arrested in their vehicle at Annerley.

The couple was charged with conspiring to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and attempting to posses a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

Separately, the couple was also charged with money laundering offences including dealing in the proceeds of crime and being party to two or more non-reportable cash transactions.

The 42-year-old woman was also charged with dealing in the proceeds of crime.

Source: Australian Customs Agency