International drug lords are using Sydney high school students to bring precursor drugs and narcotics into Australia, authorities say.
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) is warning parents and principals across Sydney's inner west about overseas crime syndicates offering school students hundreds of dollars for the use of their `clean' home addresses.
Illegal substances are allegedly being hidden in items like motorbike helmets or LED lights, posted to the students' homes and then passed on to Sydney-based members of the syndicates.
Two teenagers are already facing possible charges, the ACBPS says.
The two high school students were allegedly paid a few hundred dollars to accept parcels containing an illegal substance then pass on the packages.
One of the parcels allegedly contained four kilograms of the illegal precursor substance ephedrine - enough to produce $250,000 worth of the party drug `ice'.
ACBPS NSW regional director Tim Fitzgerald says criminals are approaching students over Facebook, Twitter and even at their schools.
"The promises that the syndicates give these students in a lot of instances is that because of their age, they won't be held legally responsible and that's completely incorrect," Mr Fitzgerald told the ABC on Monday.
He said students seemed to be chosen at random, and both public and private school students were targeted.
The ACBPS and NSW police raided five NSW premises earlier this month as part of a crackdown on the importation of ephedrine.
Four grams of ice was allegedly discovered along with cash, believed to be the proceeds of crime, leading to a 24-year-old being arrested and charged.
A number of high school students were also interviewed over involvement in previous importations.
NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione called on parents to be vigilant.
"I don't think that I've heard of a lower act than trying to get our children involved in this grubby business that these drug importers, these merchants of misery, are involved in," he told the ABC on Monday.
"Make it your business to know what's going on because at the end of the day, these people are playing with the future of your children."
And he had a message for students: "There is no such thing as an easy $500 these days."
Federal Immigration and Border Protection Minister Scott Morrison commended ACBPS efforts with teachers, parents and students to raise community awareness of the issue.
"Criminals using students to transfer drugs are despicable and obviously have no regard for the future of those students," he said in a statement.
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