Australian police confiscated $500 million worth of cocaine after the boat sinking
Australian police have seized 2.3 tons of cocaine from a broken-down boat off the Queensland coast, authorities said Monday.
Eleven men and two minors were arrested, including the ship’s crew and others who were waiting on shore to collect the illegal shipment.
The drugs had an estimated street value of A$760 million ($490 million; £388 million), with the potential to be distributed across 11.7 million separate street transactions – making this became the largest cocaine bust in Australian history.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege one of the men arrested on Saturday night is the vice-president of the Brisbane chapter of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle club.
Bikie gangs are notorious in Australia for drug violence, with more than 1,000 shootings recorded since the 1980s.
This recent cocaine bust is part of a wider investigation into the Comanchero gang, codenamed Operation Tyrrendor, which began last month.
Authorities said they received intelligence suggesting a crime syndicate linked to the gang was planning to import illegal drugs into Australia.
This follows reports last week that The Colombian Navy intercepted a semi-submersible ship carrying cocaine to Australia.
Investigators told reporters in Brisbane that the record shipment of cocaine came from an unidentified South American country.
AFP worked with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) to track a fishing boat, which was recently purchased by a 35-year-old man.
Police said on Saturday night it was being used to transport cocaine from a larger mother ship to the Queensland coast when it suffered technical problems.
Stuck some 18km off the northeastern tip of K’gari, it was intercepted by the AFP and QPS, who found 51 bales tied up with wire netting.
Each bale contained 40kg of cocaine, a total of 2.34 tons.
Two men were arrested on the boat and two others were arrested on shore while waiting for the shipment.
Three more arrests were made at a nearby fast food restaurant, along with five others at a traffic stop.
The final arrest was made in Brisbane after the AFP and QPS executed a search warrant.
All 11 men and two minors were charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of cocaine, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
