The duo were later caught red-handed with the 230kg cocaine and methamphetamine haul as they tried to angle-grind their way into the imported equipment.
Teghveer Singh, 22, and Omar Hadid, 23, were arrested by Australian Federal Police at a business in the Sydney suburb of Prestons in July 2022 with the haul, which arrived in a shipment from the United States.
Both pleaded guilty to one count of possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug and appeared at Parramatta District Court for a sentence hearing on Wednesday.
Singh's barrister Greg James KC tried to downplay the duo's role in the scheme.
"They are labourers, not distributors; contractors, not executives," he told Judge Stephen Hanley.
Singh went to Bunnings to purchase the angle grinder after the pair were offered $10,000 each to cut out the drugs and "stash" them until they were picked up by others in their network.
At the time of their arrest, police estimated the street value of the drugs was over $150 million.
The duo watched Wednesday's hearing by video-link from separate rooms at Clarence Correctional Facility.
Mr James said Singh was a young, industrious man who had shown good prospects of rehabilitation during the 415 days he had spent in custody since his arrest.
The Jamisontown man had also shown remorse for his serious criminal offence, he said.
Crown prosecutor Adam McGrath said the pair's young age should not be used to lower either their criminal culpability or their sentence.
"This was premeditated and planned, and has all the hallmarks of adult offending," he said.
He denied claims they were merely labourers, saying that a degree of trust had been placed in them to store the drugs until they could be picked up and distributed.
The sentence hearing continues.
A third co-accused, Ahmad Mustapha El Halbouni, was arrested at a Cabramatta hotel five days after police apprehended Singh and Hadid.
The 42-year-old has pleaded not guilty to two charges of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug and will face a two-week District Court trial in February next year.
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