Two Scottish tourists have been charged after police made an incredible find in the boot of their rental car while holidaying in Australia.
New South Wales Police seized cash along with 107 kilograms of drugs – allegedly ketamine. Other drug paraphernalia was also discovered during a Friday (June 26) raid of a flat on Sydney’s north shore.
Detectives from North Shore Police Area Command attended a unit on Hampden Road in the Sydney suburb of Artarmon, where they found approximately two kilograms of prohibited drugs, believed to be ketamine. They also confiscated scales, disposable gloves, and clear resealable bags containing a white crystallised residue, and well as items of luggage.
Acting Crime Manager for North Shore Police Area Command Detective Acting Inspector Alison Dixon told news.com.au that drug syndicates are increasingly relying on the high turnover of temporary accommodation rentals to fly under the radar from law enforcement.
View 3 ImagesThe alleged ketamine haul comes in at an estimated street price of AUD$11 million.(Image: NSW Police)
“We have seen this before in short stays and encourage property owners to be wary,” Det Act Insp Dixon said. “People staying in hotels and Airbnbs, we see a lot of illegal activities come and go through those places. Stuff out of the ordinary that doesn’t look right… if it doesn’t look right, it probably isn’t.”
According to police, the major drug bust was a mix of “good old-fashioned police work” from senior detectives combined with the smarts of tech-savvy younger team members that allowed police to track the alleged owner of the abandoned luggage to a hotel in North Sydney.
Which was where police executed a further search warrant at a hotel three days later (Monday June 29). In the hotel room, NSW Police allege they found a number of mobile phones, just over AUD$2,000 (£1,047) in cash, and handwritten drug ledgers. Police then searched a car understood to have been rented by the 30-year-old man in the hotel carpark, where they made the stunning find of approximately 105 kilograms of a prohibited drug – again, believed to be ketamine – in the car’s boot.
View 3 ImagesPolice seized cash, as well as drugs and other paraphernalia(Image: NSW Police)
The drugs are understood to have an estimated street value of AUD$11 million – or roughly £5.7 million. A 30-year-old man and a 23-year-old woman, both from Scotland, have since been arrested and charged with the supply of a prohibited drug larger than indictable and less than commercial quantity, and supply prohibited drug larger than or equal to large commercial quantity.
Police allege the man and woman travelled to Australia for the sole purpose of taking part in the distribution and supply of large commercial quantities of prohibited drugs.
The alleged drug-running duo appeared at Manly Local Court on June 30 and were refused bail, and remain remanded in custody until their next scheduled court appearance, at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday, August 26.
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Further investigations remain ongoing.