SYDNEY, Sept 25: Australian authorities on Wednesday said they had uncovered a major 274 kilogram haul of the stimulant ephedrine, used to make crystal methamphetamine, during a pest check on a rice shipment from India.

The seizure is one of the largest of ephedrine in Australia, with enough of the drug to manufacture 200 kilograms of crystal meth — also known as ice — worth up to 200 million Australian dollars (US$188 million), customs said.

The crystalline substance was scattered throughout bags labelled “basmati rice” which arrived in a 3,600-packet consignment in Melbourne in July, and were physically checked for pests by a security officer.

“The officer who did the inspection was really on the ball,” an official of the agriculture department said.

“He realised that the powder that was in the bags of rice that were tested wasn’t just residue from the rice, there was something different about it.” Three people — two Canadians and one Australian — were arrested and charged over the alleged importation and intended distribution of the ephedrine after the bags were delivered to their destinations in Sydney and Melbourne.

An Indian national, allegedly responsible for organising the ephedrine and sending the consignment to Australia, was also detained in India by police.

Australian Federal Police national manager for crime operations Ian McCartney said the seizure had dismantled a multinational syndicate.

Karen Harfield, a customs official, said hiding the drugs in rice was an unusual method and forced her staff to laboriously sift out the substance from the white grains.—AFP