{"id":11659,"date":"2026-05-15T02:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T02:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/11659\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T02:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T02:25:09","slug":"cocaine-hidden-in-fruit-pulp-found-by-australian-federal-police-at-melbourne-airport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/11659\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocaine hidden in fruit pulp found by Australian Federal Police at Melbourne Airport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Border authorities have seized 14 kilograms of cocaine concealed within a two-tonne fruit pulp consignment at Melbourne Airport. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Australian Border Force officers conducted an initial X-ray examination of the produce after the international air cargo shipment arrived into Melbourne earlier this month.<\/p>\n

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said the shipment was identified by officers as high-risk, due to an anomaly in a number of boxes in the consignment.<\/p>\n

\"Op<\/p>\n

Cocaine was concealed in a fruit pulp shipment uncovered by border authorities at Melbourne Airport. (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n

A subsequent physical examination identified 16 boxes of interest suspected to have border-controlled drugs concealed within them.<\/p>\n

AFP Detective Superintendent Ray Imbriano said organised crime groups continued to use sophisticated consignment methods in attempts to smuggle illicit drugs into Australia. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“Criminal syndicates are becoming more creative with their attempts to conceal these types of drugs,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Australian law enforcement agencies have extensive methods to detect and intercept these types of consignments, and we are steadfast in our mission to keep these harmful substances out of Australia.<\/p>\n

“The AFP and our domestic and international partners, will continue to protect the community by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and their efforts to profit off the misery illicit substances cause in our community.”<\/p>\n

\"Op<\/p>\n

The shipment was identified by AFP officers as high-risk. (Supplied: AFP)<\/p>\n

ABF Acting Superintendent Claudine Lupton said Border Force officers were committed to intercept and seize illicit drugs while ensuring legitimate trade was maintained.<\/p>\n

“No matter the methods criminals use to try and hide illicit goods, the ABF and our partners are focused on protecting Australians from this harmful trade,” Acting Superintendent Lupton said.<\/p>\n

Cocaine usage detected by the National Wastewater Monitoring Program<\/a> has risen significantly in recent years, according to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.<\/p>\n

Wastewater monitoring found cocaine detected rose from 6835 kilograms in 2023-24 to 7985 kilograms in 2024-25, an estimated dollar increase from $2.22 billion to $2.79 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Border authorities have seized 14 kilograms of cocaine concealed within a two-tonne fruit pulp consignment at Melbourne Airport.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1758,2668,312,8672,260,8004,12476,12477],"class_list":["post-11659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-australian-federal-police","tag-cocaine","tag-crime","tag-drugs","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-airport","tag-seizure","tag-trafficking"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}