A 36-year-old man has been sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment with a non-parole period of seven years, while a 32-year-old woman received a 10-year sentence with a non-parole period of six years following a hearing in the Gosford District Court on 19 June 2026.
AFP Detective Acting Inspector Aaron Burgess said the case highlighted the ongoing threat posed by drug trafficking networks.
“Anyone involved in the importation of illicit drugs should know they are in the sights of the AFP and our partners, and we are working tirelessly to identify them and put them before the courts,” he said.
“Methamphetamine and other drugs have a devastating impact on individuals and our communities, which is why we are committed to prosecuting those responsible for importing it into Australia.”
The case stemmed from an investigation launched by the Australian Federal Police after Australian Border Force officers examined a shipping container arriving from Iran in August 2023.
During the inspection, officers discovered 13kg of pure methamphetamine impregnated within five blue shipping pallets destined for Guildford in western Sydney.
Authorities removed the drug-laden pallets before the remainder of the consignment was delivered to a storage facility in Waterloo in September 2023 as part of the investigation.
Australian Border Force Superintendent Jared Leighton said organised crime groups continued to use sophisticated concealment methods to smuggle illicit substances into the country.
“Criminal syndicates attempt creative concealment methods to bypass our officers’ scrutiny, and this case is no exception,” he said.
“Pallets, shipping containers, and boxes can all be manipulated by organised criminal networks to hide their illicit goods.”
The court heard the couple used fraudulent consignee details and repeatedly redirected the shipment to different locations in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement.
AFP officers executed search warrants at properties in Surry Hills and Waterloo on 18 September 2023, seizing an encrypted communications device, mobile phones, pallets linked to the shipment and quantities of illicit drugs.
The pair were found guilty on 2 October 2025 of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug, namely methamphetamine.
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