Four charged in $47m ecstasy bust
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Four people have been charged after police and customs officers made Australia's biggest ecstasy drug bust, seizing powder with a potential street value of Aust. $68 million ($47 million).
Police found 340 kg of MDMA (ecstasy) powder in a shipping container last Friday in Sydney, and on Sunday arrested four people at Sydney and Brisbane airports.
The powder was hidden between packaged Chinese wonton pastry sheets.
Australia's Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison, said Monday there was enough powder in the seizure to make up to 1.36 million tablets of ecstasy.
He said a man and woman, aged 54 and 43 respectively, were arrested in Brisbane while attempting to board a flight to Hong Kong on Sunday.
Two men aged 42 and 40, were arrested at Sydney Airport later. All four were charged with conspiracy to import narcotics. The three men were refused bail while the woman was granted conditional bail.
"This is believed to be the largest ever seizure of this drug in Australia," Senator Ellison said.
"Our agencies believe that a well-organized criminal syndicate has been disrupted as a result of this seizure and these arrests," he said.
