A massive cocaine stockpile has been uncovered in a cluster of shipping containers at a property in Sydney’s outer west in what police describe as “the largest ever cocaine seizure in Australia”.
Australian Federal Police officers raided a semirural property in Londonderry on Friday, and a search of three shipping containers uncovered a 2.7 tonne stockpile of cocaine.
The powder blocks, estimated to be worth about $816m, had been hidden in small underground bunkers beneath the “false floors” of the containers.
An AFP spokesman said the cocaine could have been used in about three million street-level deals.
During the raid, police say a 21-year-old Plumpton man and a 25-year-old Liverpool man attempted to flee officers on foot but were eventually arrested.
Both were charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug and were refused bail in court on Saturday.
The men are scheduled to appear next at Penrith Local Court on August 13.
The AFP spokesman said the cocaine had reached Australian shores through Midge Point in North Queensland and was transported to Sydney “at the behest of a Sydney organised crime group”.
AFP Commander Stephen Jay said it wasn’t uncommon for criminals to “go to extreme lengths and often risk their own lives” to conceal their drug-smuggling operations.
“This alleged plot to distribute nearly three tonnes of cocaine – by arranging for an international vessel to offload the drugs in northern Queensland before moving them into Sydney – demonstrates how highly organised and determined these criminal networks are and the extreme lengths they are willing to go to in pursuit of profit,” Commander Jay said.
“Investigations into the origin of the drugs remain ongoing, and we will work with our international and domestic law-enforcement partners to identify the criminal syndicates and anyone else involved in facilitating this alleged attempted drug import.
“Let these arrests serve as a warning to those criminal syndicates plotting attempts to bring illicit substances into our country, we stand together ready to act and disrupt your criminal activities, together with our law enforcement partners.”
Commander Jay said on Monday
During a press conference on Monday morning, Commander Jay was asked if outlaw motorcycle gangs were responsible for the drugs’ importation.
“We’re not really at a point at this stage to attribute (the drugs) to any particular organised crime syndicate. Historically, what we have known is that outlaw motorcycle gangs do pose a threat to our country,” he said.
“I think it’s fair to say with the size of this importation it’s a significant organised crime syndicate. Exactly who that is, that’s still very much something we’re examining.”
“We have over 13,000km of coastline in Queensland, so criminals will test it, but the collaboration we have with our law enforcement partners is evident from the outcome (of the operation).
The Londonderry bust is the latest successful warrant served as part of the joint AFP and Queensland Police Service Operation Minjiang, which began in May after 40kg of cocaine was found near a boat ramp at Midge Point by QPS officers who were responding to reports of a burnt-out flatbed truck.
The find resulted in a national-scale operation that has resulted in at least nine people being charged in relation to the importation and transport of illicit substances up and down the east coast.
