A Gold Coast man is facing life behind bars if convicted for allegedly importing 120 litres of “highly addictive liquid drugs”, worth $450,000, into the country.

The 37-year-old Clear Island Waters man allegedly imported Gamma-Butyrolactone inside plastic bottles labelled as “cleaning supplies”, “skincare products” and “fishing gear”.

The drug has been known to cause death in some users.

Australian Border Force officers in Sydney and Melbourne launched their investigations in November last year after discovering GBL inside “several air cargo consignments” of plastic bottles.

The man was arrested on Wednesday and charged with six counts of importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug under the commonwealth Criminal Code Act, the maximum penalty for which is life imprisonment if convicted.