An American couple were expecting to rake in their share of $820 million when they organised a tonne of methamphetamine and cocaine to be shipped into Australia.
But Nasser Abo Abdo, 57, and Leonor Fajardoa, 52, will instead spend time behind bars after their plan was thwarted by US Homeland Security and Australian police.
The US officials in February 2019 intercepted three containers the couple had organised to be shipped from California to Melbourne.
Inside two of the containers were hundreds of car audio capacitor boxes concealing bags of methamphetamine and cocaine.
In total, 1.293 tonnes of pure methamphetamine and 15.794kg of pure cocaine was seized by US authorities.
The street value of the drugs was more than $820 million.
The US officers removed the drugs before sending the containers onto Melbourne, with Australian police expecting Abo Abdo and Fajardoa to collect them.
But the couple was instead arrested before the containers arrived after police caught wind of their plans to travel overseas.
In sentencing the couple on Friday, Victorian County Court Judge Michael O'Connell said it was hard to overstate the gravity of the offending.
"The value of the drugs is difficult to comprehend," he said.
"It's possible to point to some cases more serious than this but there's not many."
Abo Abdo and Fajardoa were expressionless as they were sentenced to 21 years' jail and 14 years behind bars respectively.
But each have already spent more than five years in jail, meaning Abo Abdo could be released on parole within nine years and Fajardoa after three.
The pair each pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to import charge after receiving a sentence indication.
Judge O'Connell noted Abo Abdo had played a key role in the offending as he was the one working with the US syndicate and a Sydney-based crime gang to distribute the drugs.
The 57-year-old even travelled alongside Fajardoa to Los Angeles to pack the containers himself.
"While your role was not that of principal offender, you were nonetheless a driving force," Judge O'Connell said.
"You stood to make millions of dollars from the enterprise."
Fajardoa had a lesser role but still must have understood that a substantial quantity of drugs was being imported, the judge said.
In sentencing, Judge O'Connell took into consideration the couple had no prior criminal convictions in Australia and the US.
Their time on remand had also been more challenging due to the COVID-19 pandemic, distance from their children overseas and the weight of the sentences hanging over their heads.
But Judge O'Connell said it was important the sentences deterred would-be drug importers from committing such serious crimes.
"The potential positives from such an enterprise will be neutralised by the risk of severe punishment," he said.
Conspiracy to import carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Australian and US authorities said in a statement the drug shipment was at the time the largest ever bound for Australia and the biggest seizure in the US.
Australian Border Force superintendent Ben Michalke said the federal authorities remained committed to dismantling organised crime.
"This historic seizure prevented an unprecedented volume of methamphetamine from reaching our communities," he said.
"Our co-ordinated efforts are crucial in detecting and disrupting criminal networks in their attempts to exploit our borders."
