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Australian police uncover 3 tons of cocaine
The Seattle Times • • world
Key Points:
- Australian police seized 2.7 metric tons of cocaine on a property in Sydney's suburb of Londonderry, marking the country's largest ever cocaine bust with an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars ($572 million).
- The cocaine was hidden in underground bunkers beneath shipping containers and was allegedly transported by a Sydney organized crime group from Queensland, covering a distance of 1,800 kilometers.
- Two men aged 21 and 25 were arrested and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of illicit drugs, facing potential life sentences.
- Authorities suspect the cocaine was offloaded from the same mother ship, MV Wealth, a Belize-flagged cargo vessel seized in the Solomon Islands, linked to previous cocaine and methamphetamine seizures.
- Australian Federal Police highlighted that organized crime groups increasingly exploit Queensland’s extensive coastline for drug smuggling, taking advantage of Australia's high cocaine prices.
