Forklift battery used to smuggle cocaine. Picture courtesy of Australian Customs Service

A Canadian man allegedly used a forklift battery cell to smuggle cocaine into Australia.

The 56-year-old man was arrested this week in Sydney after attempting to smuggle 22 pounds (10 kilograms) of cocaine in December. The haul had a street value of USD1.16 million (AUD2.45 million).

Customs officers at Sydney's Port Botany container examination facility found the drugs after an x-ray examination of a forklift from Mexico.

Customs officers drilled into one of the forklift's 24 battery cells to reveal a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.

Paul Davy, Australian managing director of battery manufacturer Energy Tech, says forklift batteries can be up to one metre square and contain around 40 gallons (50 kilograms) of electrolytes. "If you took the electrolytes out, you could fit up to 40 gallons of drugs in it."

Davy said for the man to fit 22 pounds of cocaine in a forklift battery cell, he would have had to prepare it. "Forklift batteries are made up of individual multiple cells that are all made of plastic," he says.

"The man would have had to take off the top, take everything out, wash it, line it with plastic and then put the drugs in."

Davy says a forklift battery cell is just another type of container.

Customs spokeswoman Catherine Asbridge says detection of this quantity of cocaine was significant. "This seizure should send a strong warning to other potential importers of illegal drugs that, no matter how sophisticated the concealment, their shipments will be intercepted," Asbridge says.

Disclaimer: Forkliftaction.com News does not recommend the use of batteries for any purpose other than their intended functions, and Davy's comments are purely academic. There is no suggestion that the battery used in this case is at all related to his firm.