The Discovery
On Friday, June 19, 2026, officers from the Queensland Joint Organized Crime Taskforce raided a semi-rural property in the western Sydney suburb of Londonderry. They found 2.7 metric tons (3 tons) of cocaine packed in plastic tubs and buried in underground bunkers concealed beneath three shipping containers with false bottoms. The drugs had an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars (about 500 million euros), making it the largest cocaine seizure in Australia’s history, surpassing the previous record of 2.34 tons from 2024.
Arrests and Charges
Two men, aged 21 and 25, were arrested at the scene as they attempted to flee on foot. They appeared in court on Saturday, charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an illegally imported border-controlled drug. If convicted, they face life imprisonment. Both remain in custody without bail.
The Smuggling Operation
Investigators believe the cocaine was ordered by a Sydney-based criminal syndicate. The drugs were offloaded from a foreign mothership – the Belize-flagged general cargo vessel MV Wealth – onto two smaller tender boats in deeper waters. From there, the shipment was brought ashore at Midge Point, a remote coastal location in north Queensland, and then transported approximately 1,800 kilometers overland to western Sydney.
The MV Wealth, a 98-meter multipurpose freighter built in 2010, had been under Chinese ownership before being sold to unknown buyers in February 2026. Acting on intelligence, Solomon Islands authorities, in partnership with Australian forces, intercepted the suspicious vessel on June 19 – the same day as the Sydney raid – and escorted it to Honiara. Nineteen crew members, believed to be from China, Indonesia, and the Philippines, were detained. The two tender boats remain missing.
Operation Minjiang
The Londonderry raid was part of Operation Minjiang, launched in late May 2026 after about 40 kilograms of cocaine were found floating near a boat ramp in Midge Point. Near the same location, detectives discovered a burnt-out flatbed truck with a mounted crane. In the weeks that followed, six additional individuals were arrested in Queensland and New South Wales, charged in connection with the same smuggling pipeline involving 178 kilograms of cocaine and 142 kilograms of methamphetamine.
This alleged plot to distribute nearly three tonnes of cocaine — by arranging for an international vessel to offload the drugs in Northern Queensland before moving them into Sydney — demonstrates how highly organized and determined these criminals are.Stephen Jay, Australian Federal Police Commander
Commander Jay added that the investigation into the source of the drugs remains active, with national and international partners working to identify further syndicate members and any facilitators. The seizure underscores the extreme lengths to which drug cartels will go to penetrate the Australian market – and the equally extreme efforts of law enforcement to stop them.
