Australian Police Seize 2.7 Tonnes of Cocaine Worth A$816 Million in Record Sydney Bust
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 22
Australian Police Seize 2.7 Tonnes of Cocaine Worth A$816 Million in Record Sydney Bust
3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 22
Summary
2.7 tonnes of cocaine were uncovered beneath false floors in three shipping containers at a Londonderry property in western Sydney, marking Australia's largest-ever cocaine seizure.
A$816 million worth of drugs were allegedly smuggled into Australia via Midge Point in north Queensland on the orders of an organised crime group, police said.
Two men, aged 21 and 25, were arrested after allegedly trying to flee the raid, then remanded in custody and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
Operation Minjiang began in May after 40kg of cocaine was found floating near a Midge Point boat ramp; police have since charged six more people in Queensland and New South Wales and detained a suspected mother vessel in Solomon Islands.
Australia remains a lucrative cocaine market, with prices around A$300 a gram, as investigators work with international partners to trace the shipment's origin and the syndicates behind it.