A MAN was sentenced to 22 years in jail for attempting to import 668 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia in a shipping container full of rotting, raw cow hides.
The container, shipped from Mexico, was declared as containing “salty bovine skin cuero verde salado de bovino”. It arrived in Melbourne in August 2019.
Authorities found 18 pallets of frozen, raw and untreated cow skins inside the shipment, the smell of which they described as “putrid”.
Further inspection revealed 167 silver packages of a white substance hidden inside the skins. Forensic testing revealed the packages contained high-grade crystal methamphetamine.
When Australian authorities seized the drugs from inside the raw skins, it was the largest onshore seizure of meth from Mexico at the time, they said.
A Mexican national, 45, was identified as an alleged member of an organised criminal syndicate.
He was arrested in August 2019, then found guilty of importing the drugs after a 12-week trial that ended in October last year.
And last week, on 5 May, he was sentenced to 22 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of 15 years.
AFP Detective Superintendent Anthony Hall said hiding drugs in untreated cow hides presented a significant biological hazard for AFP officers extracting the methamphetamine.
“It also demonstrates the unsafe, disgusting journey drugs can often take on their way to a consumer,” he said.
“These organised crime syndicates inflict human suffering at all stages of their activities; this occurs at the supply end in Mexico, through to the harm suffered by users and their families here in Australia.”
ABF Superintendent maritime operations south Dan Peters said the ABF is working closely with law enforcement partners to stop the tide of methamphetamine coming into Australia.
“Our technical expertise and sophisticated technology means that we will find the drugs, regardless of the method of concealment these criminals use,” Supt Peters said.
“This seizure shows that strong partnerships can prevent and disrupt organised crime syndicates who try to import illicit substances into the country.”
