Brazen dealers are using the mail system to send drugs disguised in items targeted at children.
Ecstasy pills hidden inside Haribo lolly bags and meth concealed in tractor parts were among the drugs seized at the Sydney International Mail Gateway.
In other recent seizures cocaine has been found in children’s books, and narcotics have been disguised as bags of branded rock sugar.
The Australian Border force revealed it intercepts 20,000 illegal packages per year at the Granville centre, and detected 100 kilograms of drugs in 10 days over Christmas.
Pictured are bags of lollies containing ecstasy tablets seized by the Australian Border Force
Brazen dealers are using the mail system to send drugs disguised in items targeted at children (pictured is the illegal drug known as ‘bath salts’ disguised as rock sugar)
Ecstasy pills hidden inside Haribo lolly bags and meth concealed in tractor parts were among the drugs seized at the Sydney International Mail Gateway (pictured is a children’s book used to ship cocaine)
The massive seizures come despite the ABF only being able to inspect 30 per cent of the 200million packages sent every year, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Along with chemical swabs, sniffer dogs and X-ray machines, the ABF focuses on certain countries of origin to detect narcotics.
Acting ABF Assistant Commissioner Tim Fitzgerald said dealers were using the dark web to sell their products, but the method exposes their customers to danger.
‘The dark net will just send them whatever substance, and in a number of instances it’s deadly substances like fentanyl and carfentanil,’ he said.
These bags of lollies were used to conceal ecstasy tablets, and seized at the Sydney International Gateway mail centre in Granville
In other recent seizures cocaine has been found in children’s books, and narcotics have been disguised as bags of branded rock sugar (pictured are children’s books used to ship cocaine)
‘These are deadly products, they’re killing hundreds of people a day across the US and Europe. The smallest contact with this sort of product can be deadly.’
Up to 6000 dark web drug deals are made by Australians per month, with buyers often using cryptocurrencies to hide their tracks.
‘In the last 12 months, ABF officers at the Sydney International Mail Gateway have made almost 50,000 detections of illicit goods, including almost 20,000 of illegal drugs and precursors,’ a spokeperson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘People should not assume the dark net is invisible to authorities. The ABF and our law enforcement partners are well aware of these websites and have the capability to detect imports of illicit goods via these sites.’
The news comes after nine backpackers were hospitalised in Perth after taking a drug which arrived in the post.
The group almost lost their lives after overdosing on Hyoscine – a motion sickness medicine which they mistook for cocaine.
ABF officers (pictured, left, right) at the Sydney International Mail Gateway have made almost 50,000 detections of illicit goods, including almost 20,000 of illegal drugs and precursors
The Australian Border force revealed it intercepts 20,000 illegal packages per year at the Granville centre, and detected 100 kilograms of drugs in 10 days over Christmas (pictured is a children’s book used to ship cocaine)