The Australian Federal Police have conducted the biggest cocaine seizure in the nation’s history, with 2.7 tonnes reportedly confiscated, valued at approximately $816 million.
The significant amount was reportedly discovered concealed beneath three shipping containers on a semi-rural property in Londonderry, western.Sydney, on Friday.
Allegedly, plastic containers holding cocaine blocks were kept in temporary underground shelters hidden behind shipping containers with fake floors.
Andrew Whata Fepulaei, 21, and Kristian Faiumu, 25, are said to have tried to escape on foot but were quickly taken into custody.
Each of them was charged with having a commercial amount of drugs. The crime can result in a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Both individuals were denied bail during their court appearance on Saturday and are scheduled to return to Penrith Local Court on August 13.
The operation came after a one-month cross-border inquiry conducted by the AFP and Queensland Police.
The Operation Minjiang initiative started at the end of the previous month following the alleged discovery of 40kg of cocaine in the water near a boat ramp in Mackay, North Queensland, as law enforcement officers dealt with reports of a burned-out flatbed truck.
Since that time, law enforcement has made six more arrests and is reported to have confiscated an additional 138kg of cocaine and 142kg of meth.
Four individuals from Queensland, including a woman, and a man from Sydney have faced charges for different offenses connected to the possession of illegal drugs, or planning to possess them.
Authorities claim the cocaine first entered Australia on a freighter that was stationed near the Great Barrier Reef.
Two smaller contracts subsequently transported the drugs to the shore before they were loaded into a vehicle and driven nearly 20 hours along the eastern coast.at the urging of a Sydney-based criminal organization – prompting police to locate the Londonderry property.
The vessel suspected of bringing the drugs to Australia’s coast has been held by officials in the Solomon Islands for additional examination.
An alleged scheme to distribute almost three tons of cocaine—by organizing an international ship to unload the drugs in Northern Queensland before transporting them to Sydney—highlights the level of organization and determination within these criminal groups, as well as the extreme measures they are prepared to take for financial gain,” said AFP Commander Stephen Jay on Monday.
Ongoing inquiries into the source of the drugs are continuing, and we will collaborate with our global and local law enforcement allies to uncover the criminal organizations and any other individuals associated with this alleged attempt to smuggle drugs.
Let these arrests act as a message to criminal groups trying to smuggle illegal drugs into our nation; we are united and prepared to take action and stop your unlawful operations, in collaboration with our law enforcement allies.
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