Two men have been charged after police seized 120 kilograms of cocaine allegedly stashed within the walls of a shipping container at Port Botany in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Police will allege the two men travelled from Athens in Greece to retrieve the drugs – which would have been worth an estimated $60 million on the streets – on behalf of local criminal associates.
The cocaine was allegedly hidden in the walls of the shipping container.Credit: NSW Police
Officers say they arrested one of the men, 27, following reports of a break-in at a shipping company at the port about 11pm on Thursday. Another man allegedly fled the area before police arrived.
Australian Border Force officials discovered the cocaine packaged in one-kilogram “bricks” inside the walls of the shipping container.
NSW Police are investigating the haul under Strike Force Biles, which they set up this month to investigate the alleged importation and supply of large commercial quantities of illicit drugs using the “rip on, rip off” method, which uses legitimate shipping containers to transport the substances.
On Friday night, officers from the drug squad searched three apartments in Balmain and Leichhardt in Sydney’s inner west, seizing crowbars, breaking tools, gloves, bags and other items about 9pm.
Items found at units in Balmain and Leichhardt will be forensically examined.Credit: NSW Police
They arrested a second man, aged 19, at a unit on Parramatta Road in Leichhardt. He was charged with having the intent to commit an indictable offence linked to a large commercial supply of prohibited drugs, and with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of a border restricted drug.
The 27-year-old man was charged with entering enclosed lands, assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage.