The matter was reported to federal authorities and the national anti-gang taskforce, who established a link between Australian bikie gangs and overseas crime syndicates. Four people were arrested in Victoria. Credit:Nine Months of investigation by Australian and US authorities led to the seizure in California on January 9 of meth bound for Australia, stored in two containers and 850 electrical capacitors. AFP organised crime assistant commissioner Bruce Hill said Australia had been in the sights of Mexican cartels for years, as a propensity to “pay top dollar” for illicit drugs made our market a prime hunting ground for cartels. “I’ve got to be very careful what I say regarding the Mexicans as there are ongoing investigations offshore … but they are one of the major and most powerful organised crime cartels currently operating,” Mr Hill said.

“We have averted a tsunami of ice coming into Australia.” Mr Hill said Australians' high levels of methamphetamine use had allowed cartels to flourish here. “It is now time for you to stop consuming,” he said. The 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine could have resulted in more than 17 million drug deals, police said. Credit:Nine Victoria Police assistant commissioner Tess Walsh could not guarantee that the seizure had severed links between the Mexican cartel and Australian bikie gangs, but said “inroads” had been made into the syndicate.

Ms Walsh said three people arrested in Melbourne were not directly involved in bikie gangs. The AFP referred to those arrested as “facilitators”, rather than direct members of the syndicate. The 1.7 tonnes of methamphetamine could have resulted in more than 17 million drug deals, police said. Arrests in Melbourne, Sydney Four people were taken into custody in Victoria on Thursday, including a husband and wife originally from the US. Raids were carried out by Victoria Police, Border Force and the AFP at Woodstock, Pakenham and Campbellfield, in Melbourne's north.

Ten search warrants executed in Victoria on Thursday led to the arrest of two US nationals, a 52-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman, in Woodstock. Suspected proceeds of crime worth $500,000 of were found at their premises, police say. Two Australians - a 31-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman - were arrested in Keilor Downs, with police seizing 6.5kg of methamphetamine at their property. American nationals Nasser Abo Abdo and Leonor Fajardo, both of Woodstock, fronted Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday on drugs charges, along with Tuan Ngoc Tran, of Keilor Downs. Mr Abo Abdo, 52, Ms Fajardo, 46, and Mr Tran, 31, were remanded in custody and are due to return to court on June 17. Warrants were also served in the Sydney suburbs of Bonnyrig Heights, Mount Pritchard and Hinchinbrook, resulting in the arrest of two Australian men, aged 25 and 31. Both men have been charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of drugs.

Loading Bonnyrig Heights man Cui Chong Vu, 25, and Hinchinbrook man Le Dung Vu, 31, both briefly faced Central Local Court on Friday where Magistrate Robert Williams granted an extradition order. The duo will appear in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday. They are both charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of ice, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The US Department of Homeland Security found the shipment, which included 25 kilograms of cocaine and 5 kilograms of heroin, worth a combined street value of $12 million.

Drugs found in electronic equipment Pallets of electronic equipment bearing Californian electronics company shipping stickers were dismantled and x-rayed at two Campbellfield factories. A white van was searched and taken away from the scene. The arrests are a result of a joint intelligence Victorian Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, Border Force, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Department of Home Affairs. Police Minister Lisa Neville said state, federal and international law enforcement agencies had co-operated to fight crime just as they do to combat terrorism. "This is absolutely about trying to get these dangerous drugs off the streets of Melbourne," she said. Arrest warrants were also executed in Canada with the assistance of Canadian authorities, yielding a larger seizure of suspected proceeds of crime.