DPA, 22nd DECEMBER, 2017-Police have seized a record 1.2 tonnes of methamphetamine off the coast of Western Australia worth more than 1 billion Australian dollars (772 million US dollars), police announced Friday.

Eight men were charged when police swooped on a drug importing syndicate after the vessel Valkoista landed at Geraldton at 2am Thursday (1800 GMT Wednesday) and loaded boxes into a van.
Police arrested three men in the van and three crew members of the boat, then two other men waiting in a Perth hotel. Police said the drug syndicate was based in Australia.

Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner of operations, Leanne Close, said it had been a long operation involving investigators from several agencies.

It is the biggest meth bust in Australia, beating the 903 kilograms seized in Melbourne earlier this year.