Australia's biggest cocaine bust finds 2.7 tonnes in Sydney bunker

An underground bunker hidden beneath false floors in three shipping containers held 2.7 tonnes of cocaine at a semi-rural property in Londonderry, in Greater Western Sydney. The Australian Federal Police said the A$816 million seizure is the largest cocaine bust in Australian history.

The discovery came during Operation Minjiang, a Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce investigation into an alleged organised crime plot to import and distribute border-controlled drugs along Australia’s east coast. Police allege the cocaine came ashore from a foreign vessel in northern Queensland before being moved to Sydney for distribution, a route that points to how criminal groups are blending maritime importation, inland concealment and metropolitan delivery into one supply chain.

The scale of the stash, and the construction used to hide it, highlights the level of planning behind the operation. Police said the drugs were found in plastic tubs buried underground inside the bunker system, with the concealment masked by false floors in three shipping containers. The AFP said the haul would have been enough for about three million street-level deals, a number that underscores how much product can be pushed toward suburbs, nightlife districts and interstate markets if a shipment of this size is not intercepted early.

Two men, aged 21 and 25, were arrested after allegedly attempting to flee on foot. They were identified as a man from Plumpton and a man from Liverpool, two western Sydney suburbs that sit deep inside the region where police say the drugs were being staged for onward distribution.

The bust also raises a broader question for law enforcement: whether a seizure of this size marks a major disruption to the trade, or a sign that the flow of cocaine reaching Australia is larger than authorities have publicly acknowledged. Multiple people have been charged over the alleged importation scheme and remain before the courts, leaving investigators to piece together how a foreign vessel, northern Queensland entry point and hidden Sydney bunker were linked in one of the country’s most sophisticated drug operations.