Villawood, Australia’s largest immigration detention centre, said to be ‘awash with drugs’

Australia's largest immigration detention centre is "awash with drugs", sources inside the Villawood detention centre say, with several detailing an extensive drug-smuggling operation.

Photographs from inside the centre show marijuana and "bupe" - buprenorphine, an opioid medication - in numerous compounds across the facility, which currently holds 450 people, in western Sydney.

Sources in the centre say the drug trade is widespread and widely known by staff and detainees. The drugs are brought into the centre by a small cohort of guards, multiple sources claimed.

Asked whether any staff had been dismissed over drug importation, Serco - the company contracted to provide "support services" inside Villawood - has confirmed one employee was dismissed and reported to police last year following an investigation into "illegal activity".

Multiple sources, across compounds, have independently detailed one smuggling operation.

Those detained at Villawood are given a "buy-up" allowance every week which allows them to purchase incidental and personal items such as drinks, snack foods, shampoo and soap.

The goods available through the buy-up are bought by Serco, which recently signed a $715m extension to its contract with the Department of Home Affairs to provide support services inside Australia's onshore immigration detention network. The Serco contract is ultimately paid for by Australian taxpayers.