Police have conducted Australia's largest ever cocaine seizure, discovering 2.7 metric tons of the drug on a semi-rural property in Londonderry on the outskirts of Sydney. Found on June 19, the drug was hidden in plastic tubs buried in underground bunkers beneath three shipping containers with false floors. The estimated street value of the haul is 816 million Australian dollars.
Two Sydney residents, men aged 21 and 25, were arrested at the property and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illicit drug. The two suspects face potential sentences of life in prison. This bust surpasses the previous national record of 2.34 metric tons seized in 2024 from a fishing boat near K'gari.
Authorities allege that a Sydney organized crime group transported the drugs by road over a distance of 1,800 kilometers from Midge Point in the Queensland tropics, where the shipment first landed by boat. Police suspect the cargo arrived via the MV Wealth, a Belize-flagged cargo ship currently seized by authorities in the Solomon Islands on suspicion of involvement in transitional organized crime.
The investigation is linked to a previous seizure in Queensland of 178 kilograms of cocaine and 142 kilograms of methamphetamine, for which six people have been charged. Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay stated that organized crime groups are increasingly targeting Queensland’s 13,000-kilometer coastline to smuggle drugs, as high cocaine prices make Australia a lucrative market.