Australian police seize record 2.7 tonnes of cocaine from underground bunkers in Sydney

The discovery

On 19 June, police raiding a semi-rural property in Londonderry, on Sydney's western edge, found 2.7 tonnes of cocaine packed in plastic containers and buried in bunkers under three shipping containers with false floors. The street value is estimated at 816 million Australian dollars (about 500 million euros), equivalent to roughly three million individual deals.

The plan to bring almost three tonnes of cocaine onto the market shows how well-organized and determined the criminal networks are.

Two Sydney men, aged 21 and 25, tried to flee but were arrested at the scene. They have been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illicit drug and face life imprisonment if convicted.

The investigation

The operation, led by the Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce, began in May and had already netted 178 kg of cocaine and 142 kg of methamphetamine before the Londonderry find. Six other suspects were arrested earlier in connection with those seizures. In total, more than three tonnes of drugs have been taken out of circulation.

Police believe the cocaine landed by boat at Midge Point in sparsely populated Queensland, then was transported 1,800 kilometres by road to Sydney by a local organized crime group. The mother ship is suspected to be the Belize-flagged cargo vessel MV Wealth, which authorities in the Solomon Islands have seized on suspicion of involvement in transnational organized crime.

The money will now not flow into the pockets of organized crime.

The market

Australia has some of the world's highest cocaine prices, making it a lucrative target for international traffickers. The previous record seizure was 2.34 tonnes in 2024, found on a fishing boat near K'gari off the Queensland coast. Commander Stephen Jay noted that criminal networks are increasingly targeting Queensland's 13,000-kilometre coastline to smuggle drugs.

What's next

The investigation into the origin of the drugs and the full extent of the network is ongoing. The MV Wealth remains detained in the Solomon Islands for further examination. Australian authorities have not ruled out additional arrests.