A further two men have been arrested for their alleged roles in an attempt to import 45 kilograms worth of ketamine into Sydney.
The investigation was initially launched on August 14 after Australian Border Force officers identified and intercepted a shipment, concealing over 45kg of ketamine.
Both men, aged 25, have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the plot.
The drugs were hidden inside 66 drive shafts that were sent from Germany.
The importation is worth $9.5 million on the black market.
It will be alleged by police that one of the men arrested on Thursday communicated with a logistics company to organise the collection of the car parts and made efforts to conceal his identity.
The other man will be alleged to have organised for a mobile phone linked to the operation to be destroyed.
The damaged mobile was found by AFP officers at a nearby park after the arrest.
AFP Detective Superintendent Morgen Blunden said the Australian Federal Police’s further arrests demonstrate a commitment to combat transnational organised crime and illicit drug trafficking.
“The people behind importations like this have no regard for the harm and damage that illicit drugs wreak on the Australian community,” he said.
“Ketamine is commonly a horse tranquiliser, but its consumption by people causes harm not just to the user, but also their loved ones and the wider community. This amount could have resulted in more than one million individual street deals,” he continued.
On August 14, federal police officers launched an investigation, AFP officers removed the drugs and made a controlled delivery of the car parts to an address in Merrylands, in Sydney’s west.
Two men were then arrested, aged 45 and 27.
They were both charged with one count of attempting to import a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug and one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
Both offences carry lifetime prison sentences; it will be alleged that both men worked together to receive the shipment and remove the ketamine.
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