The 29-year-old Canadian-French dual national was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court to 18-and-a-half years imprisonment in February 2023, with a non-parole period of 13 years and 6 months.

Acting on a tip-off from Indian authorities, the Victorian Joint Organised Crime Task Force launched an investigation into a suspicious shipping container which arrived in Melbourne from Mexico on January 23 last year.

Inside the shipping container, methamphetamine was found hidden within 19 tonnes of silver concentrate.

Police linked the 29-year-old man to the consignment and arrested him in February, 2022. 

During a raid of his home, police seized the substituted packages from the consignment, drug paraphernalia and the 12 large “bulk bags” containing the silver concentrate.

Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Jason McArthur said the joint operation with Victoria Police and Australian Border Force had prevented a significant amount of methamphetamine from reaching the Victorian community.   

“Operation Spalford investigators identified, tracked and disrupted this criminal syndicate and seized 154kg of dangerous methamphetamine that had the potential to cause undeniable harm to the community,” he said.

“The illicit drug supply chain is littered with violence and had this amount of methamphetamine made its way to Australian streets, it could have spread through our suburbs fueling more violence, crime and drug addiction.”