September 12-14
Three Iranian men in Australia face drug charges after police discovered one and a half tons of a chemical used to make methamphetamines mixed in with imported tea leaves.
One of the men arrived in Australia by boat four years ago. He adds to the list of Iranian boat arrivals recently arrested on major charges, including the murder of a fellow Iranian in a busy shopping mall and the attempted rape of a woman walking across a Sydney bridge.
Detectives seized the drugs from a storage facility Friday night after an eight-month investigation. Police said pseudoephedrine, a key ingredient in methamphetamines, was concealed in thousands of plastic tubs of tea leaves, packed in boxes stacked in the back of a van and in a warehouse.
Amin Malecki, 31, Omid Nourizadeh-Haris, 37, and a 31-year-old boat arrival were the trio arrested. Court documents showed the third man arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2010 and was granted a permanent protection visa. Australian media chose not to reveal his identity to protect his relatives in Iran.
