Law enforcement authorities are seeking help from the public after 80 kgs of cocaine was found in a shipping container at Port Botany.
The haul is said to have an estimated street value of AUD$26 million.
According to a statement from the Australian Border Force, on 11 August 2025, officers examined a shipping container from the USA after an x-ray had revealed anomalies.
“A forensic examination revealed two bags containing multiple packages of a substance that tested positive for cocaine, each wrapped in blue clingfilm with a ‘464’ label,” a statement from ABF reads.
The drugs have been seized by police and inquiries are now underway into the situation.
ABF Superintendent Jared Leighton said this detection was a potential example of the varying ways criminal syndicates embed themselves in the international supply chain.
“The illicit drugs found within this container were not concealed, which could be indicative of a ‘rip-on/rip-off’ method – as cargo moves from the country of origin to the country of destination, criminal insiders could tamper with legal shipments,” Supt Leighton said.
“The ABF works closely with our industry partners and international logistics companies to disrupt the infiltration of the supply chain both on and offshore.
In other crime and security-related news, two Sydney men have been sentenced by the Parramatta District Role for their roles in a failed 42kg cocaine importation in July 2023, which would have otherwise had an estimated street value of AUD$13 million.
A police operation was launched after Border Force officers detected 42 blocks of cocaine concealed in the engine of a refrigerated container in Port Botany, NSW, which had arrived on a vessel from Panama. The contraband was removed and replaced with an inert substance. Several men were later recorded on security imagery breaking into a logistics park where the container was stored. The intruders than transferred the substituted packages into black bags. The men were later arrested on a nearby street.
A Greystanes man was given a maximum combined sentence of seven years’ imprisonment for two offences. He will be eligible for parole in July, 2028. A Bundeena man was sentenced to four years’ and three months imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years and one month. Two other men were also sentenced earlier this year (March 2025) for their roles in the criminal enterprise. A Tahmoor man, 22, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of two years. The Kirrawee man, also 22, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, to be released immediately on a Commonwealth Recognisance Release Order to be of good behaviour for three years.
