Australia reports record cocaine seizure near Sydney
Police said 2.7 metric tons of cocaine were found beneath shipping containers on a property west of Sydney, with two men charged.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
Australian police said they found 2.7 metric tons of cocaine on a property near Sydney, the country’s largest recorded seizure of the drug. The case points to what authorities describe as continuing efforts by organized crime groups to use Australia’s long coastline and high drug prices to move cocaine into the country.
The Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce said the cocaine was discovered June 19 at a semirural property in Londonderry, on the western edge of Sydney. According to the taskforce, the drugs were packed in plastic tubs and buried in underground bunkers concealed beneath three shipping containers.
Police said the containers had false floors that allowed access to the hidden storage areas. Authorities estimated the cocaine’s street value at 816 million Australian dollars, or about $572 million.
Two Sydney residents, ages 21 and 25, were arrested at the property, according to police. They were charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illicit drug and could face life prison sentences if convicted, officials said.
Police allege a long overland route
Investigators said the cocaine reached land by boat at Midge Point in tropical Queensland, an area far north of Sydney. Police allege a Sydney organized crime group then moved the shipment by road about 1,800 kilometers, or 1,100 miles, to New South Wales.
Sydney is the capital of New South Wales and Australia’s most populous city. The Londonderry site sits on the city’s outskirts, where police said the drugs had been hidden below the shipping containers.
Authorities said the seizure surpassed Australia’s previous record cocaine haul. That case involved 2.34 metric tons of cocaine taken in 2024 from a fishing boat near K’gari, formerly known as Fraser Island, off the Queensland coast.
Suspected link to earlier seizure
Police said they suspect the Londonderry cocaine came from the same mother ship tied to a separate Queensland seizure of 178 kilograms of cocaine. In that investigation, six people have been charged over the cocaine and 142 kilograms of methamphetamine that police said was also found.
Authorities identified the suspected mother ship as the MV Wealth, a Belize-flagged cargo vessel. Police said the ship has been seized by authorities in Solomon Islands on suspicion of involvement in transnational organized crime.
Solomon Islands are about 2,000 kilometers, or 1,200 miles, northeast of Queensland.
Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said organized crime groups have been increasingly targeting Queensland’s 13,000-kilometer coastline to smuggle drugs. Police said Australia remains attractive to traffickers because cocaine sells there at some of the world’s highest prices.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.