Australia Seizes 2.3 Tons of Cocaine from South America, 13 Suspects Arrested

Illustration of a fishing boat. (Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Australian police have secured 2.3 tons of cocaine in a raid on a stalled fishing boat off the coast of Queensland. A total of 13 suspects were also arrested in this operation.

Quoting AP, the Australian Federal Police, who announced this operation on Monday, December 2, said that the value of the cocaine was estimated to reach 760 million Australian dollars or 494 million US dollars.

Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said the cocaine was transported from South America. However, the police were reluctant to mention the name of the country of origin of the illicit goods.

Jay said that this operation was carried out on Saturday and Sunday last week as a result of a month-long investigation that found information that the Comancheros motorcycle gang was planning a multi-ton drug smuggling operation.

Jay said that the smugglers carried out two processes of sending the drugs into mainland Australia by sea from a mother ship floating hundreds of kilometers (miles) off the coast.

Their first ship broke down. While the second ship sank last Saturday, leaving the suspects stranded at sea for several hours until finally being raided by the police.

However, the mother ship that was in international waters was not arrested.

Some of the suspects were arrested on fishing boats, while others waited on shore to pick up the cocaine. All are Australian citizens, two of whom are under 18.

The police have charged the suspects with conspiracy to smuggle drugs into Australia by sea. The suspects are scheduled to appear in court soon.

The maximum penalty for the charges is life imprisonment.

Jay previously said police had seized more than a tonne of cocaine. However, the latest operation last week was the largest in Australian history.