Four men, including the chief officer of an international livestock carrier, have been charged over their alleged roles in an organised crime plot to import more than 525kg of cocaine into Australia,
Four men, including the chief officer of an international livestock carrier, have been charged over their alleged roles in an organised crime plot to import more than 525kg of cocaine into Australia, after packages of the drug were found floating in the ocean off Western Australia.
A Western Australia Joint Organised Crime Taskforce investigation into suspicious activity by an international vessel was already under way when members of the public alerted police on November 6 after finding large packages tied to flotation drums about 30km offshore.
Later that day, Western Australia and Federal police officers collected the bundles off the coast of Lancelin, about 125km north of Perth.
Forensic specialists are examining the seized drugs to determine the exact weight and purity, but it is estimated this shipment could have been distributed as more than 2.6 million individual street deals with a street value of more than A$170 million.
The investigators will allege the drugs were dropped into the ocean from an international livestock carrier on its way to Fremantle Harbour.
On November 7, police charged the vessel’s chief officer – a 46-year-old Croatian national – with attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.
During a
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