1st LD Writethru: Aussie police seize massive drug haul

Australian Federal Police (AFP) swooped on properties across Sydney on Thursday and arrested six men alleged to have imported 230 km of an illegal drug worth 122 million U.S. dollars.

Police said a joint operation between authorities in Australia and Columbia had netted a combined total of more than half a ton of methamphetamine and cocaine from the international drug cartel.

The 230 km of liquid methamphetamine was found in a shipment of 20,000 lemonade bottles in Sydney on December 21.

Police then traced the intended recipients, and on Thursday arrested six men in the Sydney area.

On January 21 police in Bogota, Colombia, seized 243 km of cocaine concealed in cardboard boxes destined for Europe.

Police in both countries claim the same syndicate responsible was responsible for importing the contaminated lemonade into Australia.

AFP Detective Superintendent Mick Calatzis said the arrests were very significant.

"We have cut the head of the snake, these are the key individuals involved in this criminal investigation," he told reporters.

Detective Superintendent Calatzis said Australian and Colombian authorities had been secretly working together against the syndicate since May 2014.

One of the arrested men was a Colombian national living in Sydney on a visa while learning English.

The Sydney commander of the Australian Customs and Border Protection service in Sydney, Tim Fitzgerald, said the syndicate used air and sea cargo to smuggle drugs into Australia.

"In relation to the flavored water, it's not uncommon for us to come across that method of concealment where the narcotics are suspended in the liquid," he said.

"Then when it reaches here, technically someone is engaged to then dry out the liquid and you are left with whatever substance that was originally suspended in the liquid." Endi