9NewsA man driving a van carrying $200 million worth of drugs was caught after he crashed into parked police cars in Sydney recently, according to authorities.
The crash happened on Monday morning (July 22) outside Eastwood Police Station, and was captured on CCTV after officers heard a loud bang and went outside to investigate.
New South Wales police have hailed it as one of the ‘easiest’ drug busts in history after the alleged driver was caught approximately one hour later.
The footage shows a white van turning onto the street, before the driver appears to lose control and veers to the right side of the road – smashing into the parked police cars at approximately 10.30am.
While one of the police vehicles – a Holden Commodore – was written off, the other was just slightly damaged. The driver allegedly fled the scene in the van, which was then stopped and searched by a senior inspector in Ryde approximately one hour later.
As reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, Detective Chief Inspector Glyn Baker – crime manager at Ryde police area command – said police were ‘extremely surprised’ to find 273 kilograms of ‘ice’ (crystal meth) inside the van.
9NewsChief Inspector Baker said:
The vehicle was searched and, remarkably, inside that vehicle was 13 [sealed packing] boxes. Each box contained 21 one kilogram bags of methamphetamine, commonly referred to as ice.
With a haul of this size, this has now initiated quite a significant investigation… You can only assume it’s a distribution point to then on-sell a significant amount of drugs.
He continued, as per The Guardian:
This would be one of the easiest drug busts NSW police have ever made. This man has certainly had a very, very bad day.
Crashing into a police vehicle with that amount of drugs on board is somewhat unheard of – it’s an exceptional set of circumstances.
9NewsA 26-year-old man, from Berala, was arrested and taken to Ryde Police Station, after which he was charged with large commercial drug supply, negligent driving, and not giving details to police.
The reason the van swerved in the first place is still not clear, with Chief Inspector Baker saying the man declined to be interviewed. Police are also yet to determine whether the van was carrying drugs when it crashed into the vehicles.
Detectives are appealing for motorists in the area at the time of the crash to provide dash cam footage between 10.30am and 11.30am, as well as any CCTV or other footage.
The suspect was refused bail and will appear at Burwood Local Court later today (July 23).
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A Broadcast Journalism Masters graduate who went on to achieve an NCTJ level 3 Diploma in Journalism, Lucy has done stints at ITV, BBC Inside Out and Key 103. While working as a journalist for UNILAD, Lucy has reported on breaking news stories while also writing features about mental health, cervical screening awareness, and Little Mix (who she is unapologetically obsessed with).