SYDNEY, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Australian authorities have seized more than 500 kg of cocaine from a shipping container that arrived in Sydney from the U.S. state of Texas.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) said on Wednesday that officers at Sydney's Port Botany identified suspicious packages inside the container on Monday and located 14 concealed duffel bags during a subsequent search.
Each bag was found to contain between 30 and 40 blocks of cocaine, each weighing 1 kg.
AFP officers seized a total of 534 kg with an estimated street value of 400.5 million Australian dollars (279.7 million U.S. dollars).
The AFP and ABF said that the container had been shipped from the U.S. state of Texas to Sydney via Panama and was bound for delivery to an address in Melbourne.
No arrests have been made in relation to the import and an investigation has commenced to identify the criminal syndicate responsible. ■
