Four men charged over the importation of more than 660 kilograms of the drug pseudoephedrine into Sydney will face court.
Australian Federal Police and Australian Customs discovered the chemical in fruit juice containers packed into a shipping container Sydney last week.
Pseudoephedrine is a prohibited import commonly used in the illegal manufacture of amphetamine drugs, including ice and ecstasy.
Raids on several Sydney properties resulted in the arrests of four men - a 21-year-old St Marys man, a 28-year-old Castle Hill man, a 36-year-old Blacktown man and a 29-year-Oakhurst man.
Each has been refused bail and will face Sydney Central Local Court on Friday morning.
"On the very day last week that we were announcing (in Melbourne) the largest seizure of ecstasy, my officers in Sydney were unpacking a sea container," Customs chief executive Michael Carmody told reporters in Sydney.
"That container had been targeted as the result of an operation being undertaken by the NSW Crime Commission and NSW Police.
"The container was alleged to contain various foodstuffs and among the instant noodles, instant rice and vermicelli was a number of cartons of what was alleged to be fruit juice.
"When those 45 cartons were opened ... each of them containing 15 kilograms, a total of 662 kilograms of pseudoephedrine."
The discovery follows the world's largest ecstasy seizure, announced last week, of 4.4 tonnes of ecstasy found packed in tomato tins shipped to Melbourne from Italy last year.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty on Friday went into more detail about last week's announcement of the record ecstasy haul.
He said a 23rd person allegedly linked to the operation was arrested on Thursday and faced a number of charges including money laundering.
Furthermore, he said drug seizures in recent times had prevented 14.6 tonnes of illegal drugs, with a street value of $3 billion, hitting Australian streets.
In relation to the latest operation, he said raids would continue on Friday.
"Twenty search warrants (have been) conducted in the western suburbs of Sydney in the past 24 hours," Mr Keelty said.
"Those search warrants are continuing this morning."
