Police in Western Australia have charged a 39-year-old man after they say they found approximately 3.5 grams of methamphetamine hidden between the bacon and egg of a McDonald’s McMuffin meal during a search of his vehicle.
The arrest on Sunday was part of an investigation into the buying and selling of illicit drugs in Broome, Western Australia, Senior Const. Ben Lucas told the WA Police Confidential podcast.
A bag of “fresh, hot, warm, lovely-smelling” food from the chain Chicken Treat was discovered in the suspect’s car; at the bottom, police identified a “cold, discarded McMuffin burger,” which drew the attention of officers, Lucas explained, adding that when it was unwrapped, it was found to contain a sealed bag with methamphetamine inside.
In bodycam footage of the search, officers can be seen digging through a paper bag full of fast food before coming across the meth-filled breakfast sandwich, which appeared to have a bite taken out of it.
The video, shared on the Western Australia Police Facebook page, included a snippet of the Gingerbread Man from Shrek asking, “Do you know the muffin man?”
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“It caught us all by surprise,” Lucas said on the podcast.
The man has been charged with possession with intent to sell or supply. He is next due to appear before the magistrates court on Sept. 9.
Police also arrested a woman who was in the car. Lucas said she was released after questioning.
In a message to listeners and those dealing in the synthetic psychoactive substance, Lucas said, “It’s not acceptable within the community; it leaves a scourge on society, and you’ll always be looking over your shoulder because we could be there any time.”
Methamphetamine use in Australia has doubled in the last decade, according to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s annual report, which was released in April.
Australia is the second-highest consumer of meth in the world, after the U.S., the commission says; consumption is tracked through wastewater monitoring.
Statistics Canada data says Canadian cities also displayed very high levels of methamphetamines compared with cities in other countries worldwide, though fentanyl caused three-quarters of all accidental apparent opioid toxicity deaths from January to September 2024, while cocaine accounts for the largest share of illegal drug trafficking violations.
Methamphetamines ranked second.
In its 2025 World Drug Report, the United Nations estimates that, as of 2023, 316 million people worldwide used drugs in the past year. It also found that seizures of amphetamine-type stimulants worldwide broke records in 2023 and represented close to half of all synthetic drug seizures.
North America and East and Southeast Asia are the largest and most active methamphetamine markets, the report says, with those regions accounting for nearly 80 per cent of the 482 tons of methamphetamine seized globally in 2023.
In 2023, 8,049 people in Canada died from apparent drug poisonings, which include those related to the use of opioids, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association.
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