Those arrested have been charged with the importation of methamphetamine and participation in an organised criminal group.
“The quantity of methamphetamine would have gone on to cause significant harm to our communities, and is yet another fantastic outcome because of ongoing joint work by police and Customs.
“The group involved have no regard for their anti-social behaviour and are purely motivated by the monetary profits,” said Detective Inspector Tom Gollan.
The group made extensive preparations to receive and distribute the methamphetamine, including hiring a rental truck and a fork hoist, Gollan said.
Earlier, three imports of machine parts, which did not contain any controlled drugs, were sent as “test runs” or “dry runs” before the shipment containing the drugs arrived, police said.
The shipments raised the suspicion of customs because the first import was destined for a group allegedly connected to the Killer Beez, police said.
“Operation Vault” started in June after Customs intelligence specialists and detectives from the National Organised Crime Group identified the first shipment, police said.
The use of dry runs or test runs is a common practice for “transnational serious and organised crime groups”, said customs investigations manager Dominic Adams.
“Law enforcement works closely with its partners across the globe to keep track of new and emerging trends – dry runs are not a new trick. Customs and police have systems in place to identify these and remain one step ahead of these criminals,” Adams said.
“It doesn’t matter how criminals attempt to conceal and move their drugs across the border, Customs and our police partners have the skills, intelligence and technology to find the drugs and track down the criminals trying to smuggle them in.”
The methamphetamine seized could have caused $129.9m worth of social harm, police said.
The 124kg of meth is an estimated 6.2 million doses.
