Australian authorities have confiscated 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from a disabled boat near the Queensland coast, officials announced on Monday.
Thirteen individuals, including eleven men and two juveniles, were detained. Among them were the boat’s crew and those awaiting the illicit cargo onshore. The drugs, with an estimated street value of A$760 million ($490 million), could be divided into 11.7 million separate street deals, marking it as the largest cocaine seizure in Australia’s history.
According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), one of the arrested men was the vice-president of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle club’s Brisbane chapter. Biker gangs in Australia are infamously linked to drug-related violence, with over 1,000 shootings recorded since the 1980s.
This cocaine seizure was part of a broader investigation into the Comanchero gang, named Operation Tyrrendor, initiated last month. Authorities reported receiving intelligence that a criminal network associated with the gang intended to smuggle illegal drugs into Australia.
This follows last week’s report of the Colombian navy intercepting a semi-submersible transporting cocaine to Australia. Investigators in Brisbane revealed the record-breaking cocaine shipment originated from an undisclosed South American nation.
The AFP collaborated with the Queensland Police Service (QPS) and the Australian Border Force (ABF) to monitor a fishing boat recently bought by a 35-year-old man. Police said the vessel, used to ferry the cocaine from a larger mothership to the Queensland coast, encountered mechanical issues on Saturday night.
Stranded roughly 18 kilometres from the northeastern tip of K’gari, it was intercepted by the AFP and QPS, who discovered 51 bales secured with rope netting. Each bale contained 40 kilograms of cocaine, amounting to a total of 2.34 tonnes. Two men were apprehended on the boat, and two more were arrested onshore waiting for the shipment.
An additional three individuals were detained at a nearby fast-food outlet, with five others at a traffic stop. The final arrest occurred in Brisbane following an AFP and QPS search warrant execution. All thirteen individuals were charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of cocaine, a crime punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Frances Ibiefo
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