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Australian police uncover 3 tons of cocaine
NPR • • world
Key Points:
- Police in Sydney made Australia's largest ever cocaine seizure, finding 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) buried in underground bunkers on a property in Londonderry, with an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars ($572 million).
- Two men aged 21 and 25 were arrested and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of illicit drugs, facing potential life sentences.
- The cocaine reportedly arrived by boat at Midge Point in Queensland and was transported 1,800 kilometers by road to Sydney by an organized crime group.
- Authorities suspect the shipment came from the same mother ship, MV Wealth, a Belize-flagged cargo ship seized in the Solomon Islands, linked to previous drug seizures in Queensland.
- Australian Federal Police highlighted increasing use of Queensland's extensive coastline by organized crime for drug smuggling, noting Australia's high cocaine prices make it a lucrative market.
