Two Queensland men have been sentenced over a plot to import more than 100g of cocaine in a package of sneakers and food.
An investigation began on June 6 last year, when Australian Border Force (ABF) officers examined an air cargo consignment that had arrived in Australia from Peru.
Inside the shoebox they found 131g of a white powder hidden inside a pair of sneakers, with food items also filling the box.
Forensic tests found the substance to be pure cocaine.
The ABF reported it to the AFP, where officers seized the cocaine and replaced it with a substitute.
The AFP then facilitated a controlled delivery of the item to a parcel collection point in Darwin on June 12.
The following day two men, aged 35 and 36, were arrested when they attempted to collect the consignment.
In May, the 35-year-old man pleaded guilty to attempting to possess a marketable quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
His accomplice, 36, pleaded guilty on the same date to one count of aiding and abetting an attempt to possess a marketable quantity of a border-controlled drug.
Both were sentenced in the Darwin Supreme Court yesterday, receiving three years' imprisonment and 18 months' imprisonment respectively.
AFP superintendent Greg Davis said the AFP worked closely with ABF and other partners to stop criminals from smuggling illicit drugs into Australia.
"While it might seem like a relatively small amount of cocaine, it has an estimated street value of more than AU$65,900 (NZ$70,980) and equated to hundreds of individual street deals of 0.2 grams," he said.
"In 2022-23 there were 985 cocaine-related hospitalisations nationally, more than two each day on average."
He said this put health systems under "immense pressure".
“The AFP, ABF and our partners are committed to stopping illicit drugs from entering Australia and inflicting harm in our communities."
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