The seizure of the world's largest ecstasy haul has caused a major disruption to organised crime in Australia and overseas, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said.
The AFP says it seized 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy with a street value of $440 million and arrested 20 people across Australia in police raids on Friday morning.
During a joint 12-month investigation by the AFP and Customs, 3,000 tomato tins were found to contain 15 million ecstasy tablets when they were shipped from Italy to Melbourne in June last year, police said.
Police also allege they seized 150 kilograms of cocaine from the same syndicate in July this year.
The investigation also identified a money laundering operation worth more than $9 million.
Thirteen people appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates' Court facing charges including drug trafficking, drug importation and money laundering.
At a press conference in Melbourne, four customs officers guarded the massive haul of drugs contained in plastic bags and containers sitting on a large table.
Mr Keelty said the investigation also involved cooperation with European police where search warrants were executed in Belgium and the Netherlands with investigations continuing in Italy.
"This is part of a global international syndicate," Mr Keelty said.
"This is a major disruption to transnational organised crime, both for this country and abroad."
The investigation was the largest ever undertaken by the AFP, Mr Keelty said.
"This is the epitome of what organised crime investigations are about and this is for the AFP in our 30 year history, this is the largest operation we have ever undertaken."
Customs CEO Michael Carmody described the drug importation as sophisticated and well organised.
He said the investigation started after officials received small snippets of intelligence more than 12 months ago.
Those appearing in court were Melbourne men Alan Saric, 34, of Werribee, Francesco Madafferi, 47, of Greenvale, Antonio Sergi, 34, of Sydenham, Mohamed Nasfan Abdul Nazeer, 24, of West Footscray, Tanesh Bernard Dias, 35, of West Footscray, Rob Karam, 41, of Kew, John Higgs, 63, of Taylors Lakes, Gratian Bran, 51, of Cheltenham and Salvatore Agresta, 40, of East Keilor.
Also appearing were Sharon Ropa, 37, of the Melbourne suburb of Carlton, Pasquale Sergi, 45, of Griffith, NSW, Pasquale Barbaro, 46, of Tharbogang, NSW, and Severino Scarponi, 39, of Glenside, South Australia.
Seven other people have also been charged.
Police executed 45 search warrants in Victoria, NSW, Tasmania and South Australia.
Prosecutor Brent Young asked the court for extra time to prepare the case.
He said police had intercepted 187,000 telephone calls and had 3,600 hours of listening devices to trawl through.
Mr Young said a brief of evidence would not be available for six months.
Ten of the accused made no application for bail and were remanded to appear in the same court for a special mention hearing on March 26 next year.
Madafferi was granted bail on conditions including reporting to police daily. He will also appear in the same court on March 26 next year.
Dias and Nazeer, who are not charged with drug offences, were remanded to appear in the same court on February 9 for committal mention.