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Registered: 2019-04-01

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[NEWS] UK men arrested in Australia after New Zealand drugs bust

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Australian police have made a major drug bust linked to an international syndicate, linked to the arrest of two men in Auckland earlier this month.

Four British men have been arrested after the seizure of vast quantities of MDMA powder and ice.

The interception of 766 kilograms of MDMA in Queensland state is the third-largest such haul in Australia, with Australian Federal Police estimating its street value, when turned into ecstasy pills, at $90 million.

As part of the operation, 200kg of methamphetamine, or ice, was seized by police in New Zealand.

Police carried out a search at an apartment complex in central Auckland as part of a major drug operation called Operation Essex. In the apartment, police found a wardrobe full of cardboard packing boxes which contained plastic storage containers with methamphetamine that had an estimated street value of about $144 million.

Detective Inspector Paul Newman said a 60-year-old British man was found at the scene and charged with possession of methamphetamine for supply.

Further inquiries led police to a 49-year-old British man, who police allege was helping the other man. He was arrested at Auckland Airport trying to flee the country, Newman said, and inquiries were also being made with law enforcement overseas.

In a statement, the AFP said two more British men, 51 and 40, had been charged with drug possession and supply in the latest raid in Australia. A 26-year-old Australian man has also been arrested.

Detective Superintendent Jon Wacker, from the Queensland police's drug squad, said the seizure had significantly affected Australia's ecstasy market.

"We believe the drug would have been diluted with other agents and had the potential to make between six and 12 million capsules," he said. "We believe that we certainly have disrupted this syndicate in the Pacific region."

Wacker said the seizure represented approximately 7 per cent of the 1.1 tonnes of ecstasy consumed annually in Australia.

Newman previously said the seizure would "come as a blow to the meth market in the country" and that it was one of the largest seizures of the drugs ever in New Zealand.

New Zealand was being targeted by overseas criminal networks looking to exploit families and communities, he said.

"This quantity of methamphetamine would have caused an extraordinary amount of harm and we would have all suffered as a result.

"We are dedicated to try and work out who is involved in the syndicate and what threat they pose to our country."

- with AP

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