Two men were sentenced each to nearly 20 years imprisonment for the part they played in the importation of more than a ton of cocaine into Sydney in 2017, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Wednesday.
The two men, 40 and 53, were arrested in Serbia and extradited to Australia for their roles in the importation in 2017 of 1.28 tons of cocaine into Sydney, the second largest seizure in Australian history at the time.
The two were arrested some nine months after Australian authorities found 2,576 individual blocks of cocaine concealed in prefabricated steel which arrived in Sydney via China in April 2017.
The purity of the drugs was established to be of about 78%, making the seizure worth about $500 million Australian ($330 million US) in street value.
The 40-year-old man was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, while the 53-year-old man was jailed for 18 years. The will both have to serve at least a decade in prison.
A third man, 49, also arrested in Serbia for his role in the international criminal enterprise was sentenced to 27 years in March 2020.
"Australia remains an attractive market for criminals seeking to import drugs, but the AFP is relentless in dismantling the syndicates behind the importations, wherever in the world they may be," said AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Dametto.