<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>339173</docID> <postdate>2025-02-27 12:31:57</postdate> <headline>Parcel find leads to multi-tonne haul of date-rape drug</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-339174" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/drug-bust-e1740609046204.jpeg" alt="" width="705" height="471" /></p> <caption>Sydney police have seized more than 6.5 tonnes of date-rape drug bute, worth more than $130 million. Photo: NSW Police</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Farid Farid</strong> in Sydney</span></p> <p><strong>A single parcel has led police to uncover a multi-tonne haul of a date-rape drug that was shipped from China in benign-looking olive oil and rosewater bottles.</strong></p> <p>More than six tonnes of 1,4-Butanediol - commonly known as bute - worth an estimated $132 million on the street was seized from post offices and storage units across Sydney in a series of raids.</p> <p>Local police on Tuesday stopped a 27-year-old as he was driving in the city's west and seized about 110kg of the chemical, which has frequently been linked to sexual assaults.</p> <p>Investigators later raided a storage facility, where they found 6.3 tonnes of bute distributed across 500 boxes, which were packed with falsely labelled bottles that contained the substance in liquid form.</p> <p>Bute is an industrial solvent the body naturally converts into gamma-hydroxybutyrate, also known as liquid ecstasy, which slows down the brain's messaging to the body and nervous system.</p> <p>While the chemical has legitimate uses, it has also been linked to drink-spiking incidents due to it causing drowsiness and leading to a loss of inhibitions.</p> <p>Warehouses and post offices played a crucial role in the discovery of the trove of the chemical, which was made a border-controlled drug in early 2024.</p> <p>NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Gavin Wood said it was one of the state's largest busts involving the chemical.</p> <p>"The standard postal system is part of the equation (and) how the drugs arrived in the country is part of the investigative probe," he said on Thursday.</p> <p>Officers conducting a firearms order check found a parcel containing about five litres of bute that had been sent from a storage facility.</p> <p>It was seized for forensic examination, prompting police to set up a strike force.</p> <p>Police later found 225kg of bute at a postal facility and then another 23 litres believed to be bute at a nearby post office.</p> <p>That led to the driver's arrest and the multi-tonne haul from the single storage facility.</p> <p>"It is in some respects a rarity, a smaller job leading to such a huge job," Mr Wood said.</p> <p>The man and a 28-year-old woman were both charged with supplying a large, commercial quantity of a prohibited drug.</p> <p>Both are due to face Burwood Local Court on Thursday.</p> <p>The offence carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.</p> <p>Bute is commonly used in the illicit party drug known as "fantasy", but Mr Wood said he could not speculate on how the six-tonne haul would have been sold.</p> <p>The latest raids follow a series of seizures involving federal authorities, who in May said they had stopped the illegal importation of 4200 litres of bute in just three months.</p> <p>Imports of the drug from the Asian market, particularly China, had ramped up in recent years, Australian Border Force officials said.</p> </body>