Officers seize £113 million worth of meth from van after it crashes into police station

A driver has been charged on suspicion of drug trafficking after his crash into a police station unmasked a multimillion-pound illegal drug operation stashed in his van.

Simon Tu, from Sydney, was arrested after police seized a stash of methamphetamine, also known as “meth” or “ice”, from his vehicle with an estimated street value of more than A$200m (£113m).

The 28 year-old was snared after he careered into Eastwood Police Station, in a suburb situated in the city’s north, and collided with parked police cars.

Police intercepted the man after a one-hour chase as he fled the scene in his Toyota HiAce, despite causing “significant damage” to one police car but leaving none injured, police said in a statement.

A search of the vehicle revealed 273kg of meth.

Despite the potentially lethal effects of the drug, meth is rife in Australia, with the crystal meth variety now considered among the most damaging illegal drugs in the country.

Meth is booming as a trade in the region too, with suppliers shipping cheaper pills to Asian countries and providing purer forms to Australia, meaning dealers can charge extortionate prices and build lucrative business for organised crime gangs.

Mr Tu was expected to face court on Tuesday charged with supplying a commercial quantity of drugs, negligent driving and not giving his details to police.

He was refused bail.

The arrest comes after Australian police made the country’s largest ever seizure of meth in 2017, a 1.2-tonne haul valued at around A$1bn billion (£600m).

And in May an unwitting Australian couple had £5m worth of the drug arrive on their doorstep after it was accidentally posted to their address in a Melbourne suburb.

At the time police arrested a 21-year-old local man named Zhiling Ma over the package, and another 20kg of meth was found at his address, with detectives welcoming the discovery for stripping street users of “800,000 hits”.

Agencies contributed to this report