LARGE HEROIN HAUL SEIZED IN SYDNEY

SYDNEY - Police and customs officers have seized 219 kg of heroin after
swooping on a false-bottomed shipping container in Port Botany.

It was Australia's second-largest heroin haul.

Two Singaporean men aged 47 and 51 have been charged with being knowingly
concerned in the importation of heroin.

The raid was the result of a joint operation between Customs officers,
federal police and the Joint Asian Crime Group.

A statement issued by federal Justice and Customs Minister Amanda Vanstone
today said the haul equated to four million 'hits'.

The older man has also been charged with attempting to possess a prohibited
import. Both will appear in Sydney Central Local Court this morning.

"The heroin was concealed in a false floor of a shipping container that
arrived at Port Botany, Sydney, from Indonesia on October 20," the
statement said.

"The container had been identified for examination by customs intelligence
analysts working in consultation with Joint Asian Crime Group investigators
who had been targeting people connected with the importation of an earlier
suspect container," the statement said.

Vanstone said the shipment, had it reached the streets, would have put
'thousands of lives at risk'.

Australia's largest heroin seizure occurred late last year, when 390 kg was
seized near Port Macquarie on the NSW mid north coast.