SYDNEY, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Police in the southeast Australian state of Victoria said Wednesday they have charged two men after locating 40 kilograms of cocaine in a vehicle.
A Victoria Police statement said that the vehicle was intercepted by officers around 6:20 a.m. local time on Tuesday in Melbourne's outer north as it was being driven back from the border with the neighboring state of New South Wales.
A subsequent search of the vehicle located 40 kilograms of a substance believed to be cocaine, with an estimated street value of 14 million Australian dollars (9.3 million U.S. dollars).
The two occupants of the car, men aged 19 and 20 from Melbourne's southeast suburbs, were arrested and both charged with trafficking a large commercial quantity of cocaine and possessing a large commercial quantity of cocaine.
If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Victoria Police said that it will be alleged in court that the two men were utilizing vehicles to transport drugs interstate on behalf of a wider criminal syndicate.
Detective Inspector Jamie Walker from the Major Drug Squad said that the syndicate would take a "massive monetary hit" as a result of the cocaine seizure. ■
