A man has been charged after alleged importation of $40.5 million worth of MDMA
Police say 1.2 million pills could have been made
Australian police have charged a 23-year-old man for an alleged importation of 356 kilograms of ecstasy.
Tamim Jamaal Nozhat is reported to have attempted to import the mammoth haul, said to be worth $40.5 million, via buckets of chlorine in May. He was arrested in Sydney yesterday (December 5).
Nozhat also appeared in the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) yesterday, charged with "importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug," according to ABC.
The buckets arrived from Germany in May but were stopped by the Australian Border Force. When they tested the substance hidden below the powdered chlorine, it was found to be MDMA. There was enough to make 1.2 million pills, police said.
The batch was addressed to Wholesale Pool Supplies, a company registered under Nozhat's name.
ACT Policing deputy chief police officer commander Mark Walters said: "The drugs were actually seized at the border so fortunately they didn't make their way to Canberra, but in terms of drugs that were directly related to the ACT this is the most significant drug seizure.
Nozhat has been refused bail.
This case reminds us of the time enough materials to make one billion pills were seized by Dutch police.
[Photo: MDMA Team]
Dave Turner is Mixmag's Digital News Editor, follow him on Twitter