Australia: Police seize largest shipment of fentanyl, recovers 5 million doses of illegal drug from military-style ammunition boxes

The Australian Border Force (ABF) seized more than 5 million doses of fentanyl, a deadly opioid that is circulated illegally on the streets, on Monday. According to a press statement by the ABF, this was the largest shipment of fentanyl ever detected in the country.

The opioids were found in a shipment arriving from Canada in Melbourne in December 2021, hidden inside an industrial wooden lathe, the statement described.

At an examination of the shipping container two months later, in February, Australian police officers discovered nearly 60 kilograms of illegal substances. The powdered drugs were covered up inside of military-style ammunition boxes and hidden further within a three tone lathe.

An analysis by forensic officers proved that the substances were made up of 11.2 kilograms of pure fentanyl — which is equivalent to about 5.5 million potential lethal doses of 30 milligrams — and some 30 kilograms of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of 27 million Australian dollars (roughly €18.5 million, or US$18.5 million).

First known large seizure in Australia

Prior to that, Australian police said they had only ever detected illegal fentanyl in amounts of less than 30 grams. They went on to say that as little as 28 milligrams of the drug can result in death.

"This was a massive amount of Fentanyl," ABF Commander Maritime and Enforcement South James Watson said.

"Fentanyl is an extremely toxic substance to handle as well as being a lethal drug to use. There is a fentanyl epidemic in many parts of the world today, resulting in thousands of deaths of users every year," Watson highlighted.

Australian Federal Police acting Commander Anthony Hall added that the lacing of illegal drugs with synthetic opioids such as fentanyl proved especially dangerous.

"People who use illicit drugs can never be certain what they are ingesting and this seizure highlights the potentially lethal game of Russian roulette they play. We don't want to see Australia joining other countries in that deadly game," he said.