13 charged after Australian police foil country's largest alleged cocaine import

By Anadolu staff

Australian police on Monday said they foiled the country's largest cocaine import and charged 13 people in an alleged attempt to import multimillion-dollar cocaine into the country.

In a joint statement by Queensland Police and Australian Border Force, the Australian Federal Police said they charged 11 men and two juveniles following an investigation into a transnational organized crime syndicate accused of conspiring to import 2.34 tons of cocaine into Australia by sea.

"This is the largest ever seizure of cocaine in Australia. The cocaine had an estimated street value of about 760 million AU dollars (around $494 million) with the potential to equate to 11.7 million individual street deals, had it reached the community," said the police.

They were allegedly attempting to import the illicit drugs into Queensland and multiple parties waiting on the shore to collect the drugs, police added.

Police arrested the people on Saturday and Sunday.

"A search of the vessel allegedly found 51 bales with roped netting around them. Each bale contained about 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of a white substance packaged in individual 1 kg (2.2 pounds) blocks," it added.

According to police, during the 2023-24 fiscal year, they seized 31.3 tons of illicit drugs at the border and inside the country.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid