Police have seized 2.7 metric tons of cocaine in Australia's largest ever drug bust. The shipment, discovered on June 19 at a semi-rural property in Londonderry on the western outskirts of Sydney, has an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars ($572 million).
The cocaine was found in plastic tubs buried in underground bunkers hidden beneath three shipping containers with false floors. 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 men face potential sentences of life in prison.
Authorities allege the drug landed by boat at Midge Point in the Queensland tropics and was transported 1,800 kilometers by road to Sydney by an organized crime group. Police suspect the shipment came from the MV Wealth, a Belize-flagged cargo ship that has been seized by authorities in the Solomon Islands on suspicion of involvement in transnational organized crime.
This haul surpasses the previous record of 2.34 metric tons seized in 2024 from a fishing boat near K’gari. Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay stated that organized crime groups are increasingly targeting Queensland’s 13,000-kilometer coastline to smuggle drugs into the lucrative Australian market. Police also believe the shipment was linked to a previous seizure in Queensland involving 178 kilograms of cocaine and 142 kilograms of methamphetamine, for which six people have been charged.