Organised crime syndicates importing drugs through the mail are in the sights of a new multi-agency task force aiming to "bleed the profits".
The AFP led Taskforce Vanguard was established in July and has so far executed more than 50 search warrants and arrested 30 people.
More than $3.5 million has been seized along with "hundreds of kilograms" of cocaine, ice, heroin and tobacco, the AFP says.
Ill-gotten gains have also been seen leaving the country bound for Dubai, Vietnam and China, and one operation has also found links to outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Australian Border Force Inspector Tony Wheatley says more than 32,000 shipments of illicit drugs and precursors in small parcels had been detected in the past 12 months, with more than 11 tonnes seized from air cargo and mail streams.
"The small-scale drug imports, if combined, create concerns for the community and it is task forces like Vanguard that are operating to infiltrate these imports and syndicates to bring them to justice," Inspector Wheatley said on Thursday.
AFP Detective Superintendent Craig Bellis said "a critical component" of the multi-agency task force was its "strong partnership" with other agencies that has allowed "sharing intelligence capabilities and resources like never before".
The AFP is working alongside Border Force, Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Taxation Office, international network partners, and US Homeland Security Investigations.
Homeland Security attache to Australia Adam Parks said multi-agency and international co-operation was required because "no one agency can do this alone".
He said the US had detected 799 narcotics shipments bound for Australia since last year, totalling about 1.2 tonnes.
"The same syndicates that are attacking in Australia are also attacking in the United States, it's a collaborative effort to go after the same organisations," Mr Parks said.
The task force is targeting money laundering as well as the drug trade, which Det Supt Bellis said had an "immeasurable effect in the future".
As well as trying to launder their money to "fund their lavish lifestyles", the money was also used to fund increasingly larger importations, Det Supt Bellis said.
Inspector Wheatley said 85 per cent of the detected importations have been in Sydney, where most mail enters Australia.
He said the public were not the only people who had embraced online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic, with drug syndicates also using the postal service to diversify with smaller shipments.
Det Supt Bellis said the drugs that got through were going to regional areas as well as major cities, and a number of investigations were attempting to establish links between groups.
