{"id":314873,"date":"2026-03-05T21:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314873\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T21:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T21:30:11","slug":"watch-nz-womans-brazen-meth-smuggling-attempt-discovered-at-sydney-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/314873\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: NZ woman&#8217;s brazen meth-smuggling attempt discovered at Sydney border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A New Zealander is one of two women facing an Australian court after an alleged attempt to import 38 kilograms of methamphetamine by hiding it under some towels in suitcases.<\/p>\n<p>In December, an Australian and the New Zealander, both aged 35, were stopped for a targeted bag exam by Sydney border officials after arriving from Singapore, a joint statement from the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said.<\/p>\n<p>Upon inspecting the women&#8217;s luggage, ABF officers found dozens of vacuum-sealed bags of a crystallised substance, concealed underneath a small layer of towels.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS7MA2_meth_in_suitcase_1_png.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"706\" alt=\"A New Zealander is accused of trying to import 38 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia by hiding it under some towels in suitcases.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nDozens of vacuum-sealed bags were found hidden underneath towels.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Australian Federal Police\n<\/p>\n<p>Testing returned an initial positive result for methamphetamine.<\/p>\n<p>The two women were arrested and later charged with one count each of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rnz.co.nz\/news\/national\/581194\/kiwi-charged-with-trying-to-smuggle-10m-of-heroin-in-sydney\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">importing a commercial quantity<\/a> of methamphetamine. The offence carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.<\/p>\n<p>They were due to reappear at Sydney&#8217;s Downing Centre this week.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS7MA2_x_ray_meth_SYD_png.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"687\" alt=\"A New Zealander is accused of trying to import 38 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia by hiding it under some towels in suitcases.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nAn x-ray of the suitcases.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Australian Federal Police\n<\/p>\n<p>ABF Superintendent Elke West said officers were attuned to emerging trends, observing passenger behaviour and &#8220;using intelligence-led targeting&#8221; to assess who or what might be a threat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our ABF officers are seizing significant quantities of illicit drugs at the border, removing profits from the hands of criminals and stopping their corrupt business model in its tracks,&#8221; Supt West said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Organised crime groups will run the gauntlet and attempt to smuggle in their illicit goods by any means possible, and that includes exploiting young vulnerable travellers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>AFP Detective acting Inspector Trevor Robinson said the consignment was worth &#8220;thousands of dollars in criminal profit&#8221; and stopping it prevented &#8220;immeasurable harm&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4JS7MA2_meth_on_bench_png.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"783\" alt=\"A New Zealander is accused of trying to import 38 kilograms of methamphetamine into Australia by hiding it under some towels in suitcases.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nBorder officials found 38 kilograms of methamphetamine.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Australian Federal Police\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A New Zealander is one of two women facing an Australian court after an alleged attempt to import&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[48,47,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-314873","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-podcasts","15":"tag-public-radio","16":"tag-radio-new-zealand","17":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}