Police allege two men, Kayd Simpson, 24, and Joshua Dendulk, 43, were using a consumer drone to deliver flying methamphetamine to a residential unit in Wollongong last Tuesday.
The men were discovered shortly before midnight, hiding in the unit after their drone crashed into the building.
Officers found a green dog poo bag containing 66 grams of meth inside the damaged drone, ABC Illawarra reported .
Dr Vincent Hurley, a former police hostage negotiator and senior lecturer at Macquarie University, says organised crime syndicates have always been early adopters of new technologies.
"We like to imagine that drug dealers are dumb, but some of them are pretty ingenious," he says. "They're always exploring new ways to avoid detection."
Dr Vincent Hurley is a former NSW police officer and police hostage negotiator who lectures in criminology and policing at Macquarie University. Photo: Supplied.
Dr Hurley puts the street value of the seized meth at $20,000–$30,000, depending on purity.
Recreational drone models require no licence, he says, making them effectively untraceable.
That creates a major evidentiary hurdle for police because drug supply charges hinge on proving possession.
"Unless of course they crash," Dr Hurley says. "But you have to be able to prove ownership or possession of the drug by an individual to charge them with supply.
"What's more, anyone can go to JB Hi-Fi and buy a drone. The police just don't have the technology to combat this. They're probably five years behind trying to track [drone deliveries]. It's almost impossible."
Bank robber John Killick escaped Silverwater Correctional Complex in 1999 after his girlfriend landed a hijacked helicopter in the exercise yard, Dr Hurley notes.
"So the notion of using something in flight for crime is not unusual, and drug-carrying drones often land in U.S prisons. But this is the first we've seen in Australia."
Dr Vincent Hurley expects drug-carrying drones to become a more regular occurrence in Australian crime. Photo: Getty.
While NSW Police have trialled remote‑operated surveillance drones in Moree, NSW, Dr Hurley says widespread deployment would trigger public backlash over privacy and racial profiling concerns.
"It's evolving technology, and like any government department, police are behind the eight ball. How do you police an entire CBD for drug-carrying drones? You can't."
Organised crime investigators in New South Wales are also facing a rising tide of e-bike drug trafficking cases, according to some of Dr Hurley's former colleagues.
"E-bike-related crime is no longer a fringe issue," he says. "It has become a serious and organised problem spanning the UK and Australia, with criminal gangs using e-bikes to carry out robberies, drug trafficking and witness intimidation."
Engineered for silence and power, e-bikes have elevated an existing criminal problem to an entirely new level. Unlike traditional motorcycles, they do not yet require registration, making them virtually untraceable and impossible to link to a suspect through conventional law enforcement methods.
Their varied shapes and sizes further complicate identification.
E-bikes are increasingly being used to discretely traffic drugs in Australia and the UK. Photo: Getty.
"In Australia, e-bikes have become a familiar sight, largely associated with fast-food delivery riders, a perception that organised criminals have been quick to exploit," Dr Hurley says.
"Offenders dress in dark clothing and face coverings, concealing their identity while allowing them to hear approaching vehicles, intimidate witnesses and evade detection. Their silence provides a critical advantage, enabling criminals to operate in ways that traditional motorcycles simply cannot."
Public awareness of e-bike incidents has largely centred on road safety, fatalities, and the risk of fatal fires from batteries charged overnight in communal areas.
"Yet there has been little attention paid to their growing role in organised crime and drug trafficking," Dr Hurley says.
In the UK, police forces have adopted a range of strategies to deal with those involved in organised crime riding e-bikes; from outright no-pursuit policies to tactical interventions such as the Metropolitan Police's 'tactical nudging,' which involves physically pushing a suspect from their bike.
"But the unintended consequence is stark," Dr Hurley says. "When criminals know police will not pursue them, they are effectively free to carry out drug trafficking with little fear of being caught.
"This is one of the biggest evolutions we've seen in the drug trade and police simply can't keep up."
