AFP charges US man after 250kg seizure of methamphetamine

The Australian Federal Police has arrested a US man charged with attempting to possess a substantial amount of methamphetamine.

Transcript

00:00A United States man has been charged with trying to possess 250 kilograms of methamphetamine.

00:09Now he was arrested at Sydney Olympic Park yesterday as part of a joint investigation

00:14between Australian Federal Police and United States Homeland Security Investigations.

00:20A major investigation spanning these two countries and investigating the supply and importation

00:26of drugs into Sydney, suspected to be by an American-based drug organisation.

00:32And three people within the US have also been arrested in connection with this operation.

00:39Those people are based in LA, Massachusetts and New York.

00:43Now AFP officers held a press conference in Sydney earlier today and here's a bit of what

00:48they said about this major investigation.

00:50The AFP and its international law enforcement partners are committed to combating transnational

00:55organised crime groups.

00:58Drug syndicates inflict harm in every community they operate in and this result is another

01:03example of the strong outcomes that can be achieved through international efforts.

01:08It's the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program and it looks at wastewater across

01:1256 sites across Australia's capital cities and regional areas.

01:17This covers an area of 14 million people or just slightly more than half of the population

01:24and it gives this amazing snapshot of Australia's drug use habits.

01:28And the findings are pretty concerning.

01:32Australia, cannabis remains the most widely used illicit drug in Australia but it is falling

01:39and in its place there are record highs when it comes to the use of cocaine, methyl amphetamine

01:45and nicotine in regional areas.

01:48What the report also showed was that when Australia compares internationally, we're

01:54the fourth highest user of illicit substances out of the 34 countries tested and when it

02:00comes to methamphetamines, we are second in the world, second only to the United States

02:07with cannabis we're the third highest users behind the Netherlands and Spain.

02:12So quite an interesting snapshot of drug use trends within Australia and when you look

02:17at the map, we know that Sydney recorded the highest rates of cocaine use, whereas

02:23the highest rates of methamphetamine use were found in regional areas of Queensland, South

02:28Australia and Western Australia.