Three Australians Arrested for Importing Ornate Tiles Coated in Meth
Australian authorities have arrested three men for allegedly attempting to import more than 300 kilos of crystal meth, dissolved and coated onto a consignment of ceramic tiles.
Meth smugglers have used every imaginable inventive tactic to move their goods across borders, like dissolved "liquid meth" in gas tanks or liquor bottles, hollow compartments inside marble slabs, or loose pills poured into compartments within industrial machinery.
This new tactic - dissolving meth, then soaking objects in it and letting the solution dry - has not been reported on with much frequency, but has appeared before in Australia. In January, a woman was arrested by the ABF and charged with importing 16 kilos of garments that were impregnated with methamphetamine. The technique has advantages: there are no bags or bricks to appear during customs inspections - nothing that would show up on an x-ray.
In the latest case, the Australian Federal Police got involved after the Australian Border Force intercepted an import consignment of ornate mosaic tiles, which were believed to have come from a Middle Eastern manufacturer. 360 boxes of the gold-and-white tiles turned out to be impregnated with methamphetamine. According to the AFP, the total amount of meth in the shipment was about 360 kilos, and the estimated street value was about US$215 million.
After intercepting the shipment, the AFP removed the drug-bearing tiles and delivered the cargo to its next destination, a storage facility outside Sydney. A male suspect picked it up and arranged to deliver it to another storage facility outside Melbourne, with help from a second man.
The two men were acting on behalf of a Melbourne resident, the intended recipient of the drugs, according to the AFP. Investigators searched the third suspect's home in May and seized electronic devices, which allegedly contained evidence linking him to the import plot. Based on that information, authorities arrested the other two suspects on July 3.
“We regularly see elaborate or outside-the-box attempts to import harmful illicit drugs into Australia, but the AFP and our partners are ready and waiting to stop organized crime syndicates in their tracks," AFP acting commander Peter Fogarty said.