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A man has been charged after police allegedly busted an illegal pharmaceutical drug ring in Sydney’s west in a raid that saw about $12 million worth of Xanax seized.
Raptor Squad officers found 772kg of Alprazolam, a generic name for Xanax, when they broke into a storage unit in Auburn on Sunday night.
Police also intercepted a truck in Wagga Wagga, in Riverina, New South Wales, on Wednesday night and allegedly found shopping bags filled with almost $1 million in cash.
The driver, Bogdan Shadrin, 28, was arrested and taken to Wagga Wagga Police Station.
He was charged with supplying a prohibited drug in quantities exceeding a large commercial quantity and knowingly handling the proceeds of crime.
Raptor Squad officers found more than 700 kilogams of Alprazolam when they descended on a storage unit in Auburn.
The drug is commonly prescribed to treat anxiety disorders, but is sold illicitly for recreational purposes due to its disinhibiting, euphoric, and anxiolytic effects.
During the search, police confiscated shopping bags allegedly containing nearly a million dollars in cash.
Shadrin appeared at Wagga Wagga Local Court on Thursday.
He has not applied for bail and will remain in custody until his next court date.
The matter has been transferred to Bankstown Local Court, where he will appear via audio-visual link on June 11.
The state’s elite organized crime detectives created Strike Force Chadderton two months ago to crack down on interstate cash movements linked to crime.
Drug transportation is Largest drug seizure in New South Wales history.
Xanax is commonly prescribed to treat anxiety disorders, but is also sold illegally for recreational purposes due to its euphoric and anxiety-relieving effects.
