Australian police said on Saturday they seized the largest heroin shipment ever detected in the country, worth an estimated A$140 million (RM430 million), and arrested a Malaysian national over the importation of the illicit drug.

The 450kg shipment - as heavy as a grand piano - was detected in a sea freight container of ceramic tiles sent from Malaysia and addressed to a Melbourne business, the police said in a statement.

The police did not name the arrested man, a...