Fentanyl,a synthetic opioid used in limited circumstances to treat severe pain,is about 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine and is unusual to find in this quantity in the illicit Australian drug trade,police said.
Drug experts said authorities and health workers should remain vigilant to detect increases in fentanyl use,given Australia’s relatively minor uptake of the deadly narcotic and the exponential increase in mortality rates linked with the substance in the US.
Hall said the shipment arrived at the Port of Melbourne in December 2021. Officers inspected the industrial shipping container in February. The container also had about 30 kilograms of methamphetamine inside,police said.
Australian Border Force commander James Watson said the size of the haul was “extraordinary”,given police typically detect only about a gram in other seizures.
“I’d describe it as a total act of bastardry,quite frankly. The impact of this on our community,had it reached the streets ... it doesn’t bear thinking about,” Watson said.
“Quite frankly,we’ve all been living through COVID over the last few years;it’s tough enough as it is,let alone to see this ... reaching our streets that we live in.”