SYDNEY (Xinhua): Australian authorities have charged three men over an alleged attempt to smuggle 42kg of illicit drugs into the country from Thailand.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force said in a joint statement on Saturday that the three men were intercepted by officers on arrival at Sydney Airport on flight from Thailand on Friday.
A subsequent search of their luggage allegedly located individually-wrapped bricks containing a white substance, testing of which returned a positive result for methamphetamine and heroin.
AFP officers seized 34 kg of heroin and 8 kg of methamphetamine and arrested the three men, all aged 22, from southeast Melbourne, and charged them each with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and possessing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
Both offences carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment.
According to authorities, the seized volume of heroin had an estimated street value of about 17 million Australian dollars (US$11.7 million), and the methamphetamine had a value of A$7.4 million. (1 Australian dollar equals 0.69 US dollars). - Xinhua
