A Dunedin man appeared in court in Australia yesterday charged with possessing a marketable quantity of cocaine.
Geoffrey Kennedy (50) and a 27-year-old Colombian woman were arrested in Surfers Paradise on August 20 following an operation between Australian Federal Police and German authorities.
Kennedy will reappear in the Southport Magistrates Court, in Surfers Paradise, on Tuesday.
Early last month, authorities in Germany intercepted two separate consignments of cocaine packed in hydraulic cylinders, which were being sent by airmail to a Surfers Paradise address.
Each cylinder allegedly contained about 1.2kg of cocaine.
After the consignment was seized in Germany, Australian authorities monitored the controlled delivery of the packages to a Surfers Paradise address on August 20.
The maximum penalty for a conviction for this offence is 25 years' imprisonment and/or a fine of $550,000.
• Auckland Customs officers have seized 80kg of pseudoephedrine, enough to produce as much as 24kg of methamphetamine with a street value of about $20 million, NZPA reported.
Officers detected cold and flu capsules manufactured in China, which contain pseudoephedrine, in a shipment of foodstuffs from China.
An Auckland man has been charged with importing a Class C controlled drug and possession for supply.
