Sydney, June 23 (AHN) Six men from the eastern Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have been charged over an alleged attempt to import 120 kg of cocaine from the US and the subsequent discovery of a drug laboratory, officials have said.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) said on Tuesday that an investigation began in December 2025 when officers intercepted a consignment from California containing four vehicle transmissions.

The components were dismantled, and 120 kg of cocaine with an estimated street value of 39 million Australian dollars (about 27.2 million US dollars) was located hidden inside the transmissions, reports Xinhua news agency.

The AFP investigators subsequently executed search warrants at four NSW properties on June 18.

At one of the properties in the small town of Kingsdale, 165 km southwest of Sydney, police discovered a large-scale commercial-grade clandestine laboratory believed to have been used to manufacture commercial quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine.

Another 44 kg of cocaine and 2 kg of methamphetamine were seized from the property, and four men, aged 35, 41, 45 and 49, were arrested and each charged with offences, including trafficking in commercial quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine.

If convicted, all four men face maximum penalties of life imprisonment.

Two more men, aged 56 and 52, were arrested at other properties and charged with lesser offences.

Earlier, Australian authorities seized 2.7 tonnes of cocaine from a property northwest of Sydney in the largest seizure of the drug in national history.

The AFP said on Monday that investigators located the cocaine while executing a search warrant at a property in the suburb of Londonderry, 50 km northwest of central Sydney, on Friday.

During a search of three shipping containers at the rear of the property, investigators located the cocaine in plastic crates that had been buried in underground bunkers that were concealed by false container floors.

According to authorities, the seized volume of cocaine had an estimated street value of 816 million Australian dollars (571.3 million US dollars) and could have supplied about 3 million street-level deals.

Two men, aged 21 and 25, were arrested and have each been charged with possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

The search warrant in Londonderry was carried out following an investigation by the joint organised crime task force in the northeastern state of Queensland that commenced when police found 40 kg of cocaine in water near a boat ramp in May.

Police identified that the cocaine was part of a larger importation dispatched from a mothership in deeper water off the Australian coast and located 178 kg of cocaine and 142 kg of methamphetamine while executing subsequent search warrants.

It will be alleged in court that the cocaine seized from the Londonderry property was part of the same import and was transported to Sydney at the behest of an organised crime group.

The alleged mothership has been detained in the Solomon Islands for further investigation.