Australian police seize 15 million ecsta

Canberra: Australian police said on Friday they had seized the world's largest haul of ecstasy during a series of raids on drug barons across four states and in Europe in which 16 people were arrested.
Australian Federal Police said they seized 4.4 tonnes, or 15 million pills, of the banned amphetamine, imported from Italy into the southern city Melbourne in June last year.

‘Customs officers and AFP (federal police) agents examined the container and found more than 3,000 tins, each weighing about 1.5 kilograms, containing MDMA tablets with an approximate street value of $440 million ($400 million),’ police said in a statement to Reuters.



The raids followed a 12-month investigation after X-rays on a shipping container that arrived in Melbourne on June 28 last year. Customs officers discovered the drugs hidden in tomato tins and substituted them for a harmless substance.Another container containing 150 kilograms of cocaine was discovered on July 24 this year and led to Friday's arrests in the states of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and New South Wales.
The country's top policeman, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty, said the operation involved 400 officers and was a major victory in the fight against international drug syndicates.
Raids had also been conducted in Belgium, the Netherlands and Italy, while German police were also involved in a specially formed European police taskforce. Raids in Europe were still underway, with 500,000 euros seized, Keelty said.
‘International intelligence, combined with the cooperation of local law enforcement agencies, played a big role in the success of the operation,’ he said.
He said the operation had been the largest in his force's 30-year history.
Australia's The Age newspaper said the raids had included homes of Australians linked to the Calabrian mafia in the New South Wales fruit-growing town of Griffith, as well as figures linked to the Black Uhlans outlaw motorcycle gang.
Keelty named one of those arrested as Pasquale ‘Pat’ Barbaro, 46, whose family was once named in a judicial inquiry into the 1977 disappearance of a prominent Australian anti-drugs campaigner.
The AFP said the investigation also identified a money laundering operation worth more than A$9 million used to pay for the illegal drugs.
Those arrested were yet to face court or police charges.

Re: Australian police seize 15 million e

jeez thats a shitload of pills