A Malaysian national has been jailed after attempting to internally import approximately 100g of heroin into Australia through Avalon Airport.

 

The 39 year old man was yesterday sentenced in a Victorian Country Court online hearing to four and a half years imprisonment with a non-parole period of two and a half years.

 

Australian Federal Police (AFP) charged the man in June last year after the Australian Border Force (ABF) uncovered suspected border controlled drugs during a baggage examination following the man’s arrival on a flight from Kuala Lumpur.

 

Based on intuitive judgement ABF officers targeted the passenger for further assessment.  During the bag-search, officers identified two black wrapped pellets which returned a presumptive positive result for heroin. ABF officers then became concerned the man may be concealing further drugs internally and notified the Victorian Ambulance Service and the AFP.

 

Further examination of the man revealed three additional black wrapped pellets, which also tested positive for heroin.

 

The man was taken into custody by AFP officers and transported to hospital for further medical treatment. While in hospital, a further 13 pellets were located internally, also containing heroin.

 

Further forensic analysis revealed the mixed substance to contain 97.5 grams of heroin and 104.5 grams of codeine derivative acetylcodeine.

 

The man pled guilty to importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drugs.

Internally carried drugs continues to be a problem both at airports and within prison systems, posing a very real danger to the health of the mules themselves, who are often poor and vulnerable individuals being exploited by organised crime networks.