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Australian police have smashed a drug trafficking syndicate and seized heroin worth $A9 million ($NZ11.5 million)

Insp Fryer said."Five kilograms of pure heroin equates to about 20kg on the street . . . that is hundreds of thousands of hits," he said.

Australian police have smashed a drug trafficking syndicate and seized heroin worth $A9 million ($NZ11.5 million) destined for Melbourne's streets. Officers in Sydney swooped on a 59-year-old Footscray woman carrying 700 grams, or two blocks of high-grade heroin, as she got on a train bound for Melbourne on Saturday night.
The arrest led to a raid on a house in Burnside, in Melbourne's west, on Monday where police arrested three family members accused of being ringleaders of the syndicate.Investigators seized 5kg of heroin, with an alleged wholesale value of $A million and street value of $A9 million, 1.5kg of the illegal drug ice and cash, drug taskforce boss Inspector Doug Fryer told reporters.Police allege the syndicate paid couriers to travel to South-East Asia and return with heroin concealed inside their bodies. Drugs were also brought to Melbourne from other Australian states."They use a network of couriers recruited from various areas in Melbourne for a fee," Insp Fryer said."They (the drugs) are hidden by internal concealments. Having any illicit drug inside your body can result in death, so it's high risk."It's high risk for the couriers with death penalty provisions in other countries – even in Australia there's significant imprisonments handed out for just being a courier let alone the syndicate organisers."Insp Fryer said police had been investigating the syndicate for six months along with Customs, the Australian Crime Commission and Australian Federal Police.Six men and women had already been arrested and charged with being couriers for the syndicate, bringing in heroin from Vietnam, he said.As a result, prospective couriers were probably then reluctant to import heroin, but organisers continued running the syndicate anyway, concentrating on sourcing heroin within Australia, police said.Two people were charged on Monday including 52-year-old woman Thi Loan Tran, of Burnside, who was remanded at Sunshine Court for drug importation and trafficking offences.A 27-year-old man was bailed on similar charges.The raids had put a significant dent in Melbourne's heroin trade but a steady supply of the drug still existed in the city.
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