Border Force authorities announced that they had intercepted over 4,200 cocaine deals amounting to a total weight of 4,769 kilograms. This news came as they apprehended two men accused of trying to retrieve over half a tonne of cocaine from the ocean, which had been dumped from a bulk cargo carrier.
According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the audacious plan began to unravel when a 45-year-old man got into trouble and required rescue from his seven-meter fishing boat off the coast of Western Australia. Following the botched retrieval attempt, two Queensland men were extradited to WA, charged with their involvement in the $200 million drug bust. The AFP revealed that the drug trafficking operation was orchestrated by a transnational criminal syndicate.
The second suspect, a 53-year-old who also traveled to WA, waited at a boat ramp for the drugs to be retrieved by his partner with the intention of driving the drugs back to Queensland. Several days later, federal and WA police conducted a raid on a Kalbarri property and discovered approximately 560 kilograms of cocaine concealed in plastic.
Subsequently, the two men were handed over to WA police after having previously appeared in a Mackay court on charges of trying to import a commercial quantity of cocaine. Additionally, three other men from Queensland were arrested at the Kalbarri property, where police alleged that they had purchased a boat for the purpose of collecting the drugs from the ocean.
In further commentary, ABF Commander Ranjeev Maharaj stated that organized crime syndicates are relentless in their efforts to inundate Australia with cocaine, driven by the motivation of profit and greed. He described the intercepted amount of cocaine as representing a 166 percent increase from the prior financial year. Furthermore, the authorities also noted that drug syndicates target Australia due to its high demand, which makes it a notably profitable market. Commander Maharaj emphasized the significant impact of the authorities’ efforts in intercepting such large quantities of illegal drugs.