An elderly Australian couple has received a package full of methamphetamine that was meant for someone else.
Police say that the package of the drug, also known as ice, has an estimated street value of AU$10 million ($7 million).
After opening the package and discovering bags of white substance on May 1, the couple immediately contacted the police.
'A Large Find'
A 21-year-old man was charged with importing a marketable quantity of a border controlled drug, local police said.Zhiling Ma appeared in a Melbourne court on Thursday.
"It's quite a large find to take off the streets, really," Kershaw said. "That's 800,000 hits off the street that we've intercepted yesterday which is quite significant."
Police think the package contained about 20 kg (44 lbs) of the drug. It led police to investigate another address nearby, where a further 20 kg of the drug was discovered.
Kershaw said that the elderly couple didn't realize the significance of their find.
Meth in Australia
A study published in 2017 reported the number of meth-related deaths in Australia doubled between 2009 and 2015.Professor Shane Darke from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center examined 1,649 fatalities linked to the drug, and found a fifth of those were attributed to "natural" diseases, such as strokes and cardiac arrest.
He said the findings indicate "a major methamphetamine problem."
"Many users may be unaware that heart disease is a major factor in methamphetamine-related death," he said.
His study found that nearly half of the deaths were in rural and regional locations. Forty-three percent of people died by an accidental overdose. There were also deaths from suicide and car accidents.
“The impulsivity and disinhibition associated with methamphetamine intoxication may be a factor," he said.
Effects
According to the National Institute of Druge Abuse, meth can, in the short term, cause increased wakefulness and physical activity, decreased appetite, faster breathing, rapid and/or irregular heartbeat, and increased blood pressure and body temperature.Apart from an increased risk of contracting infectious diseases like HIV and hepatitis B and C, the website lists the following long term effects: Extreme weight loss, severe dental problems, intense itching leading to skin sores from scratching, anxiety, confusion, sleeping problems, violent behavior, paranoia (extreme and unreasonable distrust of others), and hallucinations (sensations and images that seem real though they aren't.)