WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australian police seized a document 2.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 13 folks in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities stated Monday.
The medication had a sale worth of 760 million Australian {dollars} ($494 million) and equaled as many as 11.7 million road offers if they’d reached the nation of 28 million folks, federal police stated in an announcement.
Investigators instructed reporters in Brisbane that the medication have been transported from an unidentified South American nation.
The arrests on Saturday and Sunday adopted a monthlong investigation after a tipoff that the Comancheros motorbike gang was planning a multi-ton smuggling operation, Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay stated.
The smugglers made two makes an attempt to move the medication to Australia by sea from a mothership floating lots of of kilometers (miles) offshore, Jay stated. Their first boat broke down, and the second vessel foundered on Saturday, leaving the suspects stranded at sea for a number of hours till police raided the fishing boat and seized the medication, he stated.
The mothership was in worldwide waters and was not apprehended, Jay stated.
Authorities have seized multiple ton of cocaine earlier than, Jay stated, however the weekend’s haul was the most important ever recorded in Australia.
Those charged are accused of conspiring to import the drug into Australia by sea and have been attributable to seem in numerous courts on Monday. The most penalty beneath the cost is life in jail.
Some have been arrested on the boat whereas others have been ready on shore to gather the cocaine, police stated. Two have been beneath age 18 and all have been Australian residents, they stated.
“Australia is a really enticing marketplace for organized prison teams to ship medication similar to cocaine,” Jay stated.
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This story corrects the greenback conversion to $494 million.
