Australian Border Force officers discovered 300kg of cocaine concealed in a bizarre fashion on Monday.<\/p>\n
Officers said they discovered huge amounts of drugs concealed within a particular shipment from Germany.<\/p>\n
Upon inspection, officers located almost 300kg sneakily hidden with a tractor, held in a shipping container.<\/p>\n
The container was declared as carrying two tractors and machinery parts from Germany via Panama.<\/p>\n
Upon X-ray of the shipment, Border Force officers discovered anomalies, leading them to open it up.<\/p>\n
Inside and around the tractor, they found six large wrapped boxes, identified later as cocaine.<\/p>\n
No arrests have been made over the concealed drugs as yet, but police are investigating to find those responsible for the importation, along with the intended recipients of the shipment.<\/p>\n
An investigation is underway by the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, a partnership between the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force, Victoria Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.<\/p>\n
Victoria Police Detective Superintendent David Cowan said the shipment would have \u201cgenerated millions\u201d if it ended up on the streets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen people are buying and consuming these drugs, there is often a misconception that they are simply \u2018party\u2019 drugs, or they have no broader societal impacts,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know the trafficking of illicit drugs such as cocaine is a significant revenue raiser for serious and organised crime groups, so the sale of this amount of cocaine would have generated millions that, in turn, could have funded a range of other violent crimes. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis includes murders, shootings, stabbings, aggravated burglaries, arson attacks and more \u2013 things that people would never commit or pay for themselves, but effectively this is what you are doing by giving these syndicates your money.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In a statement, Australian Border Force Superintendent Dan Peters described how organised crime groups behind shipments like this spread \u201cuntold misery\u201d within society.<\/p>\n
\u201cDetections such as these don\u2019t happen out of mere coincidence \u2013 our ABF officers are highly trained and know what to look for,\u201d Supt Peters said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTransnational and serious organised crime groups are well resourced and, through their attempts to flood the domestic illicit drug market with product, they spread untold misery in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to work closely with our JOCTF partners to target and detect criminal activity and emphasise the value we place on working with the community to protect Australia\u2019s interests.”<\/p>\n