A Sunshine North man and a St Albans Man have been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drugs as part of a police crackdown on a global crime syndicate.
Police allege the syndicate attempted to traffic $1.7 billion worth of methamphetamine to Australia.
Six men were arrested this week as part of the investigation.
Two men have been charged with attempting to traffic the drugs from Canada to Australia over several months.
A further four men, who allegedly tried to buy the illicit drugs in Australia, have also been charged.
Police said the methamphetamine would have amounted to almost 19 million individual street deals.
A Sunshine North man, 28, a US national, 26, and a St Albans man, 19, have each been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs. It is expected that further charges will be laid against these three men.
Police executed search warrants at their homes and a storage unit in Sunshine, which the three men allegedly used to store the illicit drugs.
During the warrants, police allegedly uncovered a clandestine lab at the Sunshine North home along with a quantity of other drugs.
They appeared before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on June 14.
The 28-year-old Sunshine North man is due to reappear at the Melbourne Magistrates Court today, while the other two men are remanded in custody until October 18.
A 38-year-old man from Melbourne’s CBD, who recently returned from overseas, will appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on June 15, charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs and attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs. It will be alleged the man acted as a conduit for an organised crime network in Canada, and is the primary onshore facilitator for the transport and movement of one attempted methamphetamine import to Australia.
A 32-year-old man from Melbourne’s CBD, will also appear in the Melbourne Magistrates Court on June 15, charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drugs, attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs and trafficking a drug of dependence. It will be alleged the man is a professional facilitator, and used his position in a logistics business to transport the substituted methamphetamine when it arrived in Australia.
Both men are facing a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Another Melbourne CBD man, 51, will appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court today, charged with possession and trafficking of a marketable quantity of border controlled drugs, possession of a controlled drug, dealing with proceeds of crime and failing to comply with a court order.
Further arrests in Australia are expected.
