Australia's largest cocaine confiscation from boat at sea

Australia's largest cocaine confiscation from boat at sea

The police in Australia confiscated the country's largest amount of cocaine on board a fishing boat that was lavarized near the coast of Queensland. 13 people were arrested who are supposedly part of a drug smuggler ring.

monitoring and arrest of the suspects

The authorities followed a leisure fishing boat that drove into the open ocean, where it was supposed to have a mother ship in international waters to pick up the cocaine - a total of around 2.34 tons with a street value of almost half a billion dollars.

mechanical disorder leads to the arrest

The boat suffered a suspected technical defect, which caused the alleged smugglers 18 kilometers (11 miles) in front of the northeastern tip of the island of K’Gari, formerly known as Fraser Iceland. The police took the opportunity to board the boat and arrested two men at sea as part of a joint investigation between federal and local authorities. Another 11 suspects, including two minors, were arrested on land.

connections to criminal associations

Among the arrested is the Vice President of the Comanchero Outlaw Motorcycle Gang from Brisbane, which is accused of being involved in violence, extortion and drug trafficking, the police said. All suspects are accused of being part of a criminal syndicate and were charged with conspiracy for the import of a commercial amount of drugs. The maximum penalty is lifelong imprisonment.

The dimension of drug trade

The police stated that the seized amount of cocaine corresponds to the equivalent of 11.7 million individual sales on the street. "We know that criminals take extreme measures and often risk their own lives to smuggle drugs to Australia without taking into account the damage they cause in Australian communities," said Commandant Stephen Jay. "This alleged attempt to get more than 2 tons of cocaine out of the ocean shows that criminals will do everything for their own greed and their own profit."

long -term investigations based on information

The police operation began in November after a hint was that the Comanchero motorcycle passage allegedly planned to bring the drugs into the country.

growing threat from international drug cartels

international drug operations on the trail

Last week six so-called "Narco-Subs" an international anti-drug operation led by Colombia. 225 tons of cocaine were ensured, 5 tons of which were found on a half -down ship that drove a marine smuggling route from Colombia to Australia, according to the Colombian Navy.