Australian cocaine prices hit $450 a gram after 50 per cent spike in 2020 - making them the highest in the world

• e-mail

The price of cocaine has skyrocketed 50 per cent in Australia since the onset of the Covid pandemic, racking up a price of over $450 a gram.

An annual report from the New South Wales Crime Commission found the cost of importing the drug has soared to a staggering wholesale price of $200,000 a kilo, with border closures hindering international drug-smuggling operations and driving the price higher.

Australia and New Zealand have long been seen as a fertile market for cocaine profits, with residents willing to pay more exuberant prices than anywhere in the world for cocaine. 

Last year in Australia organised crime groups such as outlaw motorcycle gangs, and drug syndicates from Asia and the Middle Eastern, where paying about $125,000 a kilo, which translates to about $300 a gram on the street.

In places like Europe and the US, a kilo only fetches about $20,000 to $30,000. 

The price of cocaine has skyrocketed in Australia since the onset of the Covid pandemic racking up a wholesale price of over $200,000 a kilo, according to an annual report (stock image)

An estimated $2.5million in cash seized during a search of a property in Haymarket, Sydney, October 1, 2020. Police also seized 30g of cocaine

'The increase in value is mainly attributed to supply and demand issues as organised crime groups found it difficult to export prohibited drugs from source locations,' the report said.

Most cocaine is produced in South American countries like Colombia and Peru and distributed by Mexican Cartel groups, but mandated lockdowns and border closures have stunted their normal operations.

'With reduced air travel from the Covid-19 pandemic, international drug syndicates were unable to dispatch shore parties to Australia to collect and distribute importations of prohibited drugs,' the report said.

'As a result, it is likely local residents were recruited into these roles.'

The Crime Commission found border restrictions also reduced opportunities for Australian syndicate members to travel to foreign countries to negotiate and arrange better prices.

Pictured: A group of hitmen on November 3, 2020, shot four workers at a body shop and paint shop in Celaya, Guanajuato, Mexico and set fire to the premises where they also left a narco message

Pictured above are three of the four workers whose bodies were burned after cartel assassins opened fire at a hardware store and torched the body shop in Guanajuato, Mexico, on November 3, 2020

Not only is it more difficult to illegally transport the dangerous drug across borders, demand for the substance has diminished with the Covid recession leading to less disposable income.

Mandated lockdowns have also largely killed the party scene at pubs and nightclubs in Australia and across the globe.

But that's not the only reason cocaine prices have risen.

The Illegal profits generated by drug sales are also becoming harder to launder with casinos and pokie rooms facing tighter restrictions.

With dirty money now harder to clean suppliers are now asking for a higher price.

'The Commission is aware of several established money laundering networks ceasing activities during the early part of 2020,' the report said.

'This may have been due to the suspicion that Covid-19 is transmitted via bank notes and simply that society in general and all its commercial activities slowed or ceased.'

This has resulted in the stockpiling of large amounts of money.

Mandated lockdowns have largely killed the party scene at pubs and nightclubs in Australia and across the globe (stock image)

'This activity will likely continue until normal business transactions resume, thus providing law enforcement agencies opportunities to disrupt the money flow of established organised crime networks,' the report said.

But despite the soaring prices, the increased value of wholesale drugs 'has not transmitted to higher street purity levels'.

The report found other narcotics also shot-up in price.

Ice increased from $75,000 to $85,000 per kilo in 2019 to $125,000 to $135,000 per kilo at the end of June 2020.

The party drug MDMA, often referred to as ecstasy, lifted from $12,000 to $15,000 a kilo to between $20,000 to $25,000.

A fitness instructor was allegedly carrying a 1.1kg brick of cocaine in his Range Rover at 4pm on James Street in Leichhardt in the city's inner west when he was pulled over by police (pictured: one of the men who were arrested by police)

Officers seized 209 packages containing 205kg of cocaine (pictured) and an unknown quantity of MDMA at a home in Fairfield West

Police also found about $200,000 of cash at the home in Fairfield West, where a 24-year-old man was arrested