Five people have been charged over a tonne of MDMA - more than twice the amount used in NSW last year - which was seized after police and Australian Border Force officials realised all was not as it seemed with a consignment of tiling grout shipped to Sydney from South Korea.

A check by Border Force officers revealed that, of the 648 plastic tubs of adhesive that arrived in Australia on January 11, 176 allegedly contained six kilograms of MDMA powder.

Police say the different coloured tubs - white for those allegedly containing MDMA, beige for the ones carrying just grout - helped Border Force officials detect the shipment, acting Commander of Investigations Garry Lowe told reporters on Wednesday.

The drugs seized weighed 1053 kilograms and represented a potential 3 million MDMA tablets, police said.

The seizure is the second-largest in Sydney's history.

After the drugs were seized, Border Force and Australian Federal Police officers replaced the MDMA with an "inert substance" and delivered it to a storage facility in Sydney's inner west, federal police Eastern Region acting Assistant Commissioner Justine Gough said.

Cont'd:
https://www.baka.com.au/national/nsw/five-people-charged-in-sydney-s-second-largest-mdma-drug-seizure-20200304-p546p6.html