Two citizens of Greece have been charged after police found 120 kilograms of cocaine allegedly stashed inside the walls of a cargo container in Sydney’s east.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the two men, aged 27 and 19, allegedly came from Athens, Greece with the intention of retrieving the drugs for an organised crime syndicate in Australia.
The drugs were valued at approximately $60 million.
Detective Acting Superintendent Matthew Kennedy said on Sunday that “their sole purpose, we’ll be alleging, was to come here to Australia to assist with this ‘rip on, rip off’ [drug importation].”
Police said they arrested the 27-year-old man after reports of a break-in at a shipping company at Port Botany on Thursday at about 11pm.
The 27-year-old was charged with entering enclosed lands, assault, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage. Police said they were considering charging him with further drug importation and supply offences.
The 19-year-old man was arrested at a unit on Parramatta Road in Leichhardt on Friday. 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.
Both men were refused bail when they faced court last week. They return to court in June and July.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
