A 41-year-old Hillside man was one of two men arrested and charged after a drug operation uncovered 30 kilograms of ‘ice’ with a street value of $20 million.
After executing a number of search warrants at properties in Hillside and South Melbourne last Thursday night, Trident taskforce detectives on Friday charged Besim Beqiri of Hillside and 47-year-old Spanish national Jacinto Rodriguez Conejo with importing a commercial quantity of methamphetamines.
Both men fronted the Melbourne Magistrates Court and were remanded to reappear at the court on January 23.
The arrests came after customs and border protection officers searched a shipping container on September 4 and found a Chevrolet Impala with 30 kilograms of ice on board.
Victoria Police Deputy Commissioner Graham Ashton said the methamphetamine was secreted in the rear quarter panels of the vehicle “in what was a very professional concealment”.
The Trident taskforce, which targets organised crime on the state’s waterfront, is a multi-agency effort involving Victoria Police, the Australian Taxation Office, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission.
