MELBOURNE, Australia — In what officials are calling the biggest cocaine seizure in Australian history, law enforcement discovered 2.7 metric tons — roughly 3 tons — of the drug hidden on a property on the outer edge of Sydney, authorities announced Monday.
The discovery was made on June 19 in the suburb of Londonderry, on Sydney’s western outskirts. According to a statement from the Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce, the cocaine was packed into plastic tubs and buried in underground bunkers concealed beneath three shipping containers on a semirural piece of land. The containers were equipped with false floors that allowed access to the hidden drugs below.
Authorities estimate the cocaine’s street value at 816 million Australian dollars, which equals approximately $572 million in U.S. currency. Two men, Sydney residents aged 21 and 25, were taken into custody at the scene and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illegal substance. If convicted, both men could spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
The previous Australian record for a cocaine seizure was 2.34 metric tons — about 2.58 tons — taken off a fishing vessel near K’gari, formerly called Fraser Island, along the Queensland coast in 2024.
Investigators say the drugs were brought ashore by boat at Midge Point, a remote area in the Queensland tropics. Police allege that a Sydney-based organized crime group then moved the shipment overland to the city, a road journey of approximately 1,800 kilometers, or about 1,100 miles.
Authorities also believe the same vessel responsible for this shipment previously offloaded 178 kilograms — about 392 pounds — of cocaine that was seized earlier in Queensland. Six individuals have already been charged in connection with that earlier haul, which also included 142 kilograms, or 313 pounds, of methamphetamine.
Police suspect the vessel in question is the MV Wealth, a cargo ship registered in Belize that has since been seized by authorities in the Solomon Islands on suspicion of involvement in international organized crime. The Solomon Islands are located roughly 2,000 kilometers — about 1,200 miles — northeast of Queensland.
Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay warned that criminal organizations are increasingly exploiting Queensland’s vast 13,000-kilometer, or 8,000-mile, coastline as a smuggling route for narcotics.
Australia is considered an especially attractive market for drug traffickers because its residents pay some of the highest prices for cocaine anywhere in the world.
