Four men said to be members of a Vietnamese criminal syndicate have been arrested in Sydney over the importation of 400 kilograms of methylamphetamine concealed in bottles of sriracha chilli sauce from the United States.
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NSW Police raided an Edensor Park home in western Sydney about 7am on Thursday, arresting a 45-year-old man who is expected to be charged over the $300 million drug haul.
The raid came after three men in their 30s were arrested in Sydney last week and charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of drugs and drug supply.
Australian Border Force officers on October 15 examined an air cargo consignment - declared to contain sriracha hot chilli sauce - after it was delivered to a Sydney freight depot.
It was found to contain 768 bottles of the sauce with testing returning a positive indicator for methylamphetamine, also known as the drug "ice".
A preliminary forensic analysis determined the bottles contained about 400kg of methylamphetamine with an estimated street value of more than $300 million.
The drugs were mixed with other ingredients to look like chilli sauce. The ice was to be extracted in Sydney, detectives allege.
Police said one of the first three men arrested - a 36-year-old Plumpton man - accessed the consignment at Wetherill Park before transporting it to a storage facility at Minchinbury.
The other men - two Victorians aged 30 and 34 - were arrested in the car park of a Kent Street hotel after allegedly transporting the consignment from Minchinbury to Sydney's CBD.
Police searched a vehicle in the car park and seized eight boxes containing bottles of sriracha, box cutters, moving bags and gardening gloves.
A search warrant was also executed at a hotel suite, where police seized 26 boxes of sriracha and four mobile phones.
Acting assistant commissioner Stuart Smith said the men face life sentences if convicted.
"This has been a complex investigation and we know the methylamphetamine in this import was headed for a clandestine lab in the Sydney metropolitan area for the extraction process to occur," he told reporters on Thursday.
Acting ABF regional commander Matt O'Connor said the seizure had prevented approximately four million hits of ice reaching the public.
"Our officers have seen drugs in all forms hidden in everything you can possibly imagine from clothing, furniture, machinery, electrical items, paint, and now we have chilli sauce," he said.
Mr O'Connor said this "sophisticated" form of concealment would have taken some effort and was unusual because the product was not "floating within a cavity within something else".
The commander said while previous busts revealed similar products were often made in South America and China he could not confirm the origin of the drugs until further analysis was completed. Investigations are ongoing.
Australian Associated Press
