Overview
- Police found 2.7 tonnes of cocaine hidden in underground bunkers beneath false floors in three shipping containers at a semi‑rural Londonderry property during a search executed on June 19.
- Two men aged 21 and 25 were arrested at the scene and charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported drug; both were remanded and face maximum penalties that include life imprisonment.
- Investigators say the shipment was landed near Midge Point in north Queensland and moved by road to Sydney as part of a wider importation that led to earlier seizures of 40 kg, 178 kg of cocaine and 142 kg of methamphetamine under Operation Minjiang.
- The alleged mother vessel, MV Wealth, remains detained in the Solomon Islands while Australian federal, state and international partners pursue origins, supply routes and the organised‑crime networks involved.
- Authorities estimate the Londonderry seizure is worth about A$816 million at street level, removes roughly three million street deals from the market, and highlights rising cocaine demand and harms that law enforcement says require sustained cross‑border cooperation.