SYDNEY, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- Four people have been arrested following a joint investigation by authorities in Australia and Chile into a plot to import cocaine into Sydney.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said in a statement on Friday that the Investigations Police of Chile (PDI) uncovered alleged plans by an organized criminal network to import 23 kg of cocaine into Australia via commercial aircraft.
The cocaine, which had an estimated street value of 17 million Australian dollars (11.8 million U.S. dollars), was seized in Chile and replaced by the AFP with an inert substance before being delivered to a car park at Sydney's Port Botany.
Two men were arrested by the AFP when they attended the car park to take possession of the shipment.
They were both charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
AFP investigators subsequently executed search warrants at properties in southwest Sydney and seized 5 kg of MDMA and around 8,000 Australian dollars in cash.
Two more people, a Bolivian national and an Argentinian national, were arrested in Chile by AFP officers based in South America and the PDI. They were both charged with drug trafficking and criminal association offenses. ■