An Israeli national has been charged with trying to import the synthetic drug MDMA, with a street value of $37 million, into Australia inside three hot water tanks.
About 113kg of MDMA powder, usually found in ecstasy, was discovered inside 172 tennis ball cans packed in three of six solar hot water systems in a cargo shipment.
Customs officers at Port Botany spotted the cans during an X-ray last month of the container, sent from Israel.
Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers substituted the drug with another substance then monitored the cargo's delivery to a warehouse in Artarmon, in Sydney's north.
A 46-year-old man from Bellingen, on the mid-north coast, was arrested yesterday, police and customs said.
Police raided the warehouse, a property in Marrickville, in Sydney's inner-west, a car in the inner-city and a Melbourne house, where officers seized $25,000 in cash.
The man was charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of border-controlled drug, namely MDMA and one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
He is due in Coffs Harbour Local Court today.
AFP Sydney office manager David Stewart said the joint operation prevented a significant amount of a dangerous drug from making it onto Australian streets.
"Depending on the purity of the powder, which will be determined by further AFP forensic testing, it could have been used to manufacture at least 1.2 million tablets of ecstasy," Mr Stewart said.
"This means the street value of this powder could be worth more than $37 million," he said.
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