AFP raids multimillion-dollar Double Bay home over alleged 30kg cocaine deal

A man has been charged with allegedly trying to possess 30 kilograms of cocaine after a wild police raid in one of Sydney’s most exclusive suburbs.

Wild footage showed a 40-year-old man being escorted away from a home on Holt Street in Double Bay on Friday afternoon by undercover police officers dressed up as tradies.

He has since been charged with attempting to possess a commercial quantity of unlawfully imported border controlled drugs.

Police will allege in court he was the intended recipient of 30 kilograms of cocaine imported by a criminal syndicate offshore, and had travelled to a “dead drop” in Alexandria on Friday to collect what he believed to be the drugs.

Dead drops are a secret location where items such as cash and illicit drugs are left for other people to collect.

Police had intercepted the delivery however, and replaced the alleged cocaine with an inert substance, a statement from the Australian Federal Police said.

The AFP will allege the man removed a sports bag containing the 30kg of the substitute material from a parked van in Alexandria and then returned to his home in Double Bay, at which point police pounced.

Officers raided the Double Bay home and a nearby unit, and arrested the man following a “short foot pursuit” down the road.

Police allege multiple encrypted mobile devices, the sports bag containing inert substitute material and an amount of anabolic steroids were seized from the two homes.

It will be alleged the cocaine had an estimated street value of $9.7 million and would have equated to about 150,000 street deals.

A neighbour who watched the incident unfold told NewsWire on Friday he had been working from home when “a series of really loud bashing and crashing sounds” could be heard nearby.

“A number of cars have pulled up in a hurry and a bunch of undercover cops dressed as tradies jumped out with guns and radios and whatnot,” the neighbour said.

“Some crew in substantial gear were basically just belting on the door, just ramming it trying to get access and during this time more and more police are coming out of the woodwork.”

As the situation developed, the neighbour said the street became a hub of police activity.

“There’s a lot of them moving around in unmarked vehicles and they’re just trying to lock the whole area down,” he said.

The neighbour said the lavish mansion where the raid took place rarely draws attention, although gatherings seem to take place there relatively frequently.

“They’d host a lot of family affairs at the house, always low-key, nothing gnarly … but it was the kind of place where they’d have lot of shindigs.”

Footage from the raid showed an unmarked police car had blocked off the street with its lights flashing, and armed officers were seen stationed around the area.

A spokesman for the Australian Federal Police confirmed officers had executed a search warrant at the premises “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation”.

The man will face Parramatta Local Court later on Saturday.