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Record cocaine haul seized from cargo ship docked in Perth
The street value of the drug haul is understood to be well into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
7news.com.au
From The West Australian:
A plot to smuggle more than 800kg of cocaine hidden in a bulk cargo carrier from South America allegedly came undone after three men police say are linked to a drug cartel ran into boat trouble as they attempted to collect the drugs.
Extraordinary details of the major cocaine bust have been revealed, including how Royal Australian Navy clearance divers were recruited to recover 29 cocaine-filled packages found submerged in the ship’s water-filled ballast tank.
A high-level investigation was already underway after authorities received intelligence about a plan for an illicit consignment of drugs to be dropped in the ocean off WA in May for collection by an Australian-based syndicate.
That meant eyes were already on bulk cargo carriers destined for WA ports when local police and volunteer marine rescue personnel were called to help the crew of a 10m cabin cruiser in distress near Rottnest Island on Wednesday last week.
Police say three men were onboard the boat — named “No Fixed Address”.
Suspicions were raised when the Australian Federal Police identified the boat had been paid for with cash just a day earlier, just hours before it was taken out to sea.
A plot to smuggle more than 800kg of cocaine into WA hidden in a bulk cargo carrier has come undone after an extraordinary police probe.
The trio’s accounts of their trip also seemed suspicious, as according to police, they appeared to have limited boating experience and allegedly told officers they had engine trouble.
Police allege the trio had gone out to sea to collect the drugs when trouble struck.
The AFP and Australian Border Force then focused in on the bulk cargo vessels that were in the area at the same time the cabin cruiser was in the water.
Police say the Merchant Vessel ST Pinot was identified as potentially matching the intelligence earlier received by authorities.
On Thursday last week, ABF officers boarded ST Pinot at sea, searching the vessel and interviewing the crew.
The vessel was then taken to Fremantle Port and later moved to a berth at Kwinana, where AFP, ABF and WA Police undertook a search of the vessel — uncovering the illicit stash inside the water-filled ballast tank.
Extraordinary details of the major cocaine bust have been revealed, including how Royal Australian Navy clearance divers were recruited to recover 29 cocaine-filled packages found submerged in the ship’s water-filled ballast tank.
Navy clearance divers retrieved 28 packages wrapped in blue plastic from the water and found another once the tank was drained.
The AFP said each package contained numerous 1kg blocks of white powder which tested positive for cocaine.
Testing is ongoing but it is expected the seizure will total more than 800kg — which on the street could be sold as four million individual deals worth about $320,000,000.
The three men on the No Fixed Address were arrested on Wednesday.
Two of the men — Tamaohungie Joseph Tepatu-Edwards, 29, and Terrence William Ross Baker, 25, faced Perth Magistrates Court on Thursday and did not apply for bail.
A plot to smuggle more than 800kg of cocaine hidden in a bulk cargo carrier from South America allegedly came undone after three men police say are linked to a drug cartel ran into boat trouble as they attempted to collect the drugs.
The third man, a Lithuanian national who had arrived in Australia on May 16, was arrested in Sydney as he tried to board a flight overseas. He is expected to be extradited from Sydney to Perth in coming days.
Each man has been charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug — and offence that carries a maximum term of life in jail.
The AFP say the investigation is ongoing and the search of the cargo vessel continues.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Pryce Scanlan said the seizure demonstrated the importance of collaboration between law enforcement agencies.
Mr Scanlan added: “The illicit drug supply chain is littered with violence and had this amount of cocaine made its way to Australian streets, it would have spread through our suburbs fuelling more violence, crime and drug addiction.”
“We must continue to tackle drug supplies directly before they reach our streets, and the AFP’s well-established presence internationally puts us in a prime position to disrupt the importation of drugs before they can damage our communities,” he said.
“The community needs to be aware that their illicit drug use bankrolls violent transnational serious organised crime groups, who may also be involved in other abhorrent crimes.”
The AFP say the investigation is ongoing and the search of the cargo vessel continues. No
The major seizure comes after a dozen people with alleged links to Mexico’s notorious Gulf Cartel were arrested in WA in connection to 2.4 tonnes of cocaine that was destined for the State’s shoreline late last year.
In what was the biggest drug bust in Australian history, WA Police launched Operation Beech after the mammoth haul — worth $1 billion — was intercepted by the US Drug Enforcement Administration off the South American coast.
Police then concocted 2.4t of fake cocaine and dumped half of it off the coast of Perth and swooped when the unsuspecting cartel members came to collect it.
Several of those charged have admitted their roles.
Earlier this year, 330kg of cocaine was seized off the Albany coast several days after three men — Aristides Avlonitis, Karl Whitburn and Mate Stipinovich — were rescued from the water clinging to an esky after their boat capsized.
Stipinovich was arrested after a six-week manhunt hiding under a spa next to a loaded gun in Byford.
The trio are yet to enter pleas.
