Douglas Park, NSW: $5.6 million weed bust

Three people have been charged over a $5.6 million weed bust southwest of Sydney, after an overseas meth shipment was foiled from entering Australia.

A Douglas Park property was raided on Friday as part of ongoing investigations into the cultivation of cannabis in rural areas across the Macarthur region on Sydney’s south-western outskirts.

More than 2,800 cannabis plants, 14 greenhouses and manufacturing equipment were allegedly discovered by police during the raid.

Police allege a man, 36, attempted to flee on foot into bushland but was arrested a short time later, with a 52-year-old woman and 47-year-old man also arrested at the scene.

The crop was dismantled and destroyed.

The two men and woman were charged with drug cultivation offences and refused bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.

In total, $14 million worth of cannabis has been seized and 12 arrests made since the probe was launched in February.

The bust comes after the Australian Federal Police revealed 45 kilograms of methamphetamine was headed for Australia before being uncovered in Hong Kong.

AFP Mexico tipped off Hong Kong colleagues about a suspicious shipment in transit for Melbourne, and local authorities found the drugs hidden in an automatic packing machine on April 16.

The methamphetamine could have caused significant harm if imported into Australia, AFP detective superintendent Patrick Gordon said.

‘Unfortunately, these international criminal syndicates care only about lining their pockets, not the irreversible harm they cause,’ he said in a statement.