Tower PC case used as 'creative cavity' by drug importer

Motherboard missing, leaving space for a million hits of meth

by · The Register

Australian police have arrested a man after finding he imported what appear to be tower PC cases that were full of illicit drugs.

The arrest of an unnamed Malaysian national took place yesterday, after a consignment of goods arrived by air in Sydney on October 16. Australia's Border Force spotted something odd in the shipment, tested and found drugs – but then released the goods for delivery.

The shipment was delivered yesterday, at which point Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers swooped on the man who picked them up.

Police allege the shipment contained 100 kilograms of methamphetamine – enough for around one million street deals.

Here's what a tower PC full of drugs looks like when scanned.

X-ray of PC allegedly containing methamphetamine. Image: Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force – Click to enlarge

And here's what it looked like after Australia's Feds opened it.

PC allegedly containing methamphetamine. Image: Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force – Click to enlarge

The unnamed man who was arrested has been charged with one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of border controlled drugs.

AFP acting superintendent Stuart Millen said the incident indicated criminals "will attempt to hide illicit substances in creative cavities to evade our detection."

However a tower PC case is hardly creative – they're boxes with some useful wiring and metal inside. They're not very valuable – almost certainly not pricey enough to justify the cost of air freight – and not hard to find in Australia.

Which probably made it easy for plod to pick out this shipment as suspicious. ®