Yesterday, the Australian Federal Police announced that they had arrested four people and seized approximately 720 litres of methylamphetamine, imported from Hong Kong, with a street value of more than $1 billion.
Now that the initial euphoria of the bust has worn off, though, the AFP has been left to ponder its decision in the cold light of day, and has admitted that the billion-dollar figure is an “upper range” estimate of what the drugs are worth.
Yesterday, the AFP said that the 720 litres of methylamphetamine could be used to manufacture 504 kilos of ice, with a street value of around $15 million-per-kilo, bringing the total to $1.26 billion.
That figure is something of a contrast to previous estimates by the AFP, who last month valued ice at approximately $660,000 per kilo. Either the ice market is as fucked as the housing market, or something’s up.
At a press conference on the bust, AFP Mathemagician Commander Chris Sheehan explained the new method of accounting, saying:
“The first point I’d make is that, regardless of the value, once we have seized the drugs, they are essentially valueless because they will never ever, ever, realise a profit for organised crime.In terms of the computation of values, there are a number of different ways they can be calculated. Typically, what the AFP relies upon is the ACC’s Illicit Drug Data Report (IDDR). Now that report comes out annually, and obviously the values change over time.The particular value of this shipment has been calculated on the basis of its value sold at a street level, which at that level – a kilogram of crystal methylamphetamine – could be broken into 0.1 gram deals, or ‘points’, and sold at that value. Now, calculating out from there brings us to the $1.26 billion.”
The AFP has since been urged to be more consistent and open in its methods of calculating drug value.
Three men and a woman were arrested in connection to the bust, with methylamphetamine discovered in a shipping of art supplies and push-up bras. They face life in prison if convicted of commercial drug supply offences.
Source: ABC News.
