A Victorian man has been charged for his alleged involvement in a criminal syndicate that imported 289 kilograms of cocaine into Australia with an estimated street value of $94 million.
The 20-year-old was arrested and charged on Friday as a part of a joint investigation with Australian Federal Police (AFP), Australian Border Force (ABF) and Queensland Police.
Police said an air cargo consignment which arrived on a flight into Brisbane from Papua New Guinea was suspected to have altered details of a legitimate company in a practice known as piggybacking.
Investigators found dozens of rectangular solid blocks in two pallets of the cargo, which returned a presumptive positive result for cocaine.
Police said the cargo was described as a gravel mix water purifier and drill bits however the boxes contained only 248 packages of cocaine stacked among shredded paper and bubble wrap.
Officers seized the cocaine and replaced it with a harmless substance before they allowed the pallets to be collected.
Police said it was taken to a freight warehouse, where the man from Cranbourne West, allegedly collected it on Friday and took it to a short-term rental property in Strathpine.
It is alleged the man opened one of the boxes at the house and was arrested after he left the property a short time later.
The 20-year-old has been charged with one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
He is expected to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on May 3 after he was refused bail when he faced court for the first time on Saturday.
