Australian Federal Police and customs officers seized almost three tons of hashish from two shipping containers at the Port of Melbourne on Tuesday 14 August 2001.[1][2] A team of more than 50 officers arrested five men as they opened the suspect containers, ending a four-day stake-out that police called one of Australia’s ten biggest cannabis hauls.[1]
Officers had begun covert surveillance the previous Friday when the container ship Mol Waratah docked at Melbourne.[1] The containers were loaded with marble floor tiles laid over dozens of parcels of hashish, and police said the cannabis had come from the Middle East without naming a specific country.[1][2] Police conservatively estimated the wholesale value at $15 million ($7.8 million), or up to ten times that if sold in small amounts on city streets.[1]
The five Melbourne men appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrates Court on Tuesday, each charged with possessing a prohibited import and being knowingly concerned with a prohibited import.[1] Those charges carry a maximum penalty of life in jail.[1]
