A second man has been charged in connection with an alleged plot to import millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the Gold Coast.
A joint AFP and Border Force investigation, in October last year, uncovered 140 kilograms of cocaine concealed within marine engines shipped from California.
The cocaine was wrapped in plastic blocks.
Law enforcement officers replaced the illicit substance with a substitute, and tracked the delivery to a property in Wongawallan.
Police allege that a 44-year-old man from Sydney travelled to the Gold Coast address with a 35-year-old former lifeguard to collect the blocks, under the assumption they contained cocaine.
The 44-year-old man, if convicted, faces a potential sentence of life imprisonment.
AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said drug trafficking can lead to a range of societal issues and had fuelled violence which spilled into communities.
“Criminals are motivated by greed and are indifferent to the harm their actions cause,” Telfer said.
“This amount of cocaine could have equated to about 700,000 street-level deals.”
