MORE than 400,000 esctasy tablets, with a street value of $20 million, have been seized by the National Crime Authority.

The bust, in which seven men and a woman were arrested, is the third-biggest haul of amphetamine-related drugs to be seized by Australian authorities.

It is the latest in a string of significant drug busts this year involving ecstasy or amphetamine — reflecting in part Australian‘s enormous appetite for so-called “party drugs” and the declining fashionability of heroin.

The seizure was the culmination of a two-year investigation called Operation Djura, which falls under the NCA’s investigation into South-East Asian crime syndicates.

The ecstasy had been concealed inside a consignment that entered Brisbane port via Singapore from Belgium. The tablets were hidden inside PVC piping contained in the frames of a large commercial freezer.

The container was unloaded in Brisbane and the tubing transported by road to western Sydney.

Minister for Justice and Customs Chris Ellison said the latest seizure of 124kg of was the third-largest seizure of ecstasy in Australia. The second-largest seizure, of 150kg, was only two months ago, and the largest, of 412kg, in July.

He said all eight people arrested had been charged with serious drug importation offences. They all appeared in Sydney Central Court and Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday morning, and were all refused bail.

In a separate operation in NSW yesterday, more than $2million worth of drugs was seized by crime agencies and police in a dawn sweep of several Sydney suburbs. Four men and two women have been charged with a range of offences, including supplying commercial quantities of amphetamines.