Canadian woman charged after $13.4M of meth allegedly found in luggage

A Canadian woman was charged after an estimated CDN$12.3 million of meth was allegedly found in her luggage in Australia.

The 24-year-old woman appeared in a Brisbane court on charges of allegedly importing 14.4-kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia. The woman potentially faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, according to a media release by the Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force on Aug. 2.

“This amount of methamphetamine could have been sold as almost 145,000 street deals with an estimated value of $13.4 million (Australian dollars),” officials said in the press release.

Border officers allegedly detected the illegal drugs after they decided to examine the woman’s baggage on July 28, according to the release. The unnamed Canadian, who had started her trip in Vancouver, arrived at Brisbane International Airport on a flight from Fiji.

The drugs were in plastic packages wrapped inside towels that had been soaked in vinegar and stuffed with coffee beans, officials said.

“Testing of the packages returned a presumptive positive result for methamphetamine,” read the release.

The Australian Federal Police didn’t make any further arrests related to this case and investigations are continuing.

Australian officials declined to provide further details.

“As the matter is before the courts it is not appropriate to comment,” wrote an Australian Federal Police spokesperson in an email to CTVNews.ca on Monday.

Meth had been responsible for about 27 hospitalizations every day on average in Australia in 2021-22 and linked to several forms of crime, such as drug dealing, property crime and violence, Australian Federal Police Det. Acting Supt. Steve Wiggins said in the release.

“I’m pleased to say in this instance the AFP and the ABF stopped a significant amount of methamphetamine from reaching our streets,” Wiggins said in a statement. “The AFP and its Australian and international partners are relentless in pursuing those who try to bring illegal drugs into this country.”

Similarly, two other Canadians were arrested following the discovery of nearly 25 kilograms of meth concealed in suitcases bound for Sydney, Australia at the Vancouver International Airport, according to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP. The two incidents occurred on July 27 and 29.

There is no evidence so far connecting the Vancouver meth arrests to the one in Brisbane, according to authorities.

“The CBSA arrested the travellers for exporting narcotics and smuggling under the Customs Act,” Sinead Fonseca, spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency, wrote in an email to CTVNews.ca on Thursday. “After the intercepts, the travellers were transferred to RCMP custody.”

The investigations are ongoing, and the RCMP is putting forward numerous criminal charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, Fonseca said.

The RCMP didn’t immediately respond to requests for more information from CTVNews.ca.