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28 August 2020, 8:10am
Media Release

Drug trafficker jailed for 12 years for chilling methamphetamine importation

A 42-year-old Malaysian national has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for attempting to smuggle almost four kilograms of methamphetamine, or ‘ice’, into Australia concealed inside the walls of an esky.

Australian Border Force (ABF) officers selected the man for a baggage examination when he arrived at Perth International Airport on 27 October 2018 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur.

Trace technology swabs taken from the esky that was among his luggage returned a presumptive positive result for meth, and a subsequent x-ray identified four packages secreted within its walls.

Deconstruction of the esky revealed 3.79 kilograms of meth, the equivalent of 37,900 ‘hits’, with an estimated street value of $2,842,500.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers subsequently charged him with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, namely methylamphetamine, contrary to section 307.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 (Cth).

The maximum penalty for this offence is life imprisonment.

The man was found guilty by a Perth District Court jury on Monday, 24 August 2020, following a four-day trial.

Yesterday (Thursday, 27 August) he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, backdated to the day of his arrest.

He must serve eight years before becoming eligible for parole.

His Tourist Visa has already been cancelled and he will be removed from Australia at the completion of his sentence.

 

Media contacts:

Australian Border Force: (02) 6264 2211

AFP National Media: (02) 6131 6333