Watch: Australian police seize more than a ton of cocaine from boat, arrest 5 people
Police in Australia seized more than a ton of cocaine and arrested five people in a maritime raid this past Friday.
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) stated that the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force first obtained intelligence in relation to a 'suspicious purchase' of a 13-meter motor cruiser that was paid for 'with a large sum of cash' in Sydney's Sutherland Shire on April 28.
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NSW Police began an investigation that targeted drug supply and money laundering and continued to gather information, including movements of the vessel and people associated with the group.
According to the AFP, officers noticed the boat sailing north from the coastal city of Port Macquarie on May 9 and intercepted it as it traveled back to shore toward the town of South West Rocks, about 50 miles north of where it departed.
Two men on board the boat, aged 24 and 26, were arrested at sea and escorted via a police boat to shore where they were taken to a local police station. Bodycam footage recorded during the raid shows large bundles of contraband scattered throughout a room on the two-story boat; a picture released by AFP shows that at least one of the bundles was wrapped with a Louis Vuitton label.
'Police allege approximately 1,110 blocks of cocaine, weighing 1.039 tons, were located on the vessel,' an Australian Federal Police release states. 'The seized cocaine equates to over a million individual hits, with an estimated potential street value of $623.4 million AUD.'
$623.4 million AUD equates to roughly $400 million USD.
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While the two men were being arrested on the boat nine nautical miles offshore, three men in two vehicles were arrested after they were stopped while trying to leave the area.
None of the five men were identified by name, and footage released by Australian law enforcement had their faces blurred. All of them were charged with supplying a prohibited drug in a large commercial quantity and participating in a criminal group.
The investigation into the origin of the drug and the group's alleged associates remains ongoing.
'Australia's vast coastline is attractive to organized crime groups, who attempt to exploit this by trying to import drugs using boats,' Australian Federal Police Commissioner Stephen Dametto said, per the AFP release. 'The bad news for them is the AFP will continue to work together with our partners to target organized crime syndicates who wrongly believe they can operate with impunity.'
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