() – The Australian police seized the country’s largest shipment of cocaine aboard a fishing boat that broke down off the Queensland coast and arrested 13 people allegedly part of a drug trafficking syndicate.
Authorities tracked a recreational fishing boat as it headed out to sea, where it allegedly encountered a mother ship in international waters to search for the cocaine, some 2.34 metric tons with a street value of nearly $500 million.
The boat suffered an alleged mechanical failure this Saturday, leaving the alleged traffickers stranded 18 kilometers (11 miles) from the northeastern tip of K’gari Island, formerly known as Fraser Island.
Police took the opportunity to board the ship and arrested two men at sea in a joint investigation between federal and local forces. Another 11 people were arrested on land, including two minors.
The arrests include the vice-president of Brisbane’s Comanchero Outlaw motorcycle gang, who is accused of engaging in violence, extortion and trafficking, police said.
All suspects are accused of being part of a criminal organization and conspiring to import a commercial quantity of drugs. The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
Police said the loot was equivalent to $11.7 million in individual street sales.
“We know that criminals go to extremes, often risking their own lives, to smuggle drugs into Australia with no regard for the harm they cause to Australian communities,” Commander Stephen Jay said.
“This alleged attempt to collect more than 2 tons of cocaine from the ocean shows that criminals will do anything for their own greed and profit.”
The police operation began in November after receiving a tip that the Comanchero motorcycle gang was allegedly planning to introduce drugs into the country.
The Australian police have warned in recent years that international cartels drug cartels are increasingly targeting the country, where an increase in cocaine consumption combined with some of the street prices highest in the world has fueled a lucrative illicit market.
Last week, in an international anti-drug operation led by Colombia, six of the so-called ““narco-submarines” full of cocaine. Among the seized items were 225 metric tons of cocaine, five tons of which were found aboard a semi-submersible sailing a maritime trafficking route from Colombia to Australia, according to the Colombian Navy.
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