Australian police seized more than 1 ton of cocaine worth almost $ 400 million

More than 1 ton of cocaine worth almost $400 million was seized by the Australian police from a ship moored to the east coast of New South Wales. This was reported on May 11 by the press service of the Australian Federal Police.

"The police claim that about 1,110 blocks of cocaine weighing 1,039 tons were found on the ship. The seized cocaine is equivalent to more than a million individual shipments... Two men, aged 24 and 26, were arrested on board and taken ashore by a police vessel. They were taken to Coffs Harbor Police Station," the agency said in a statement.

Already on the shore, law enforcement officers detained three more people — men aged 28, 29 and 35. At the moment, all of them are charged with drug trafficking, organizing criminal activities and money laundering. They will remain in custody until July 15, and bail was refused.

It is noted that the value of the identified and seized shipment exceeds 623.5 million Australian dollars (equivalent to $ 400 million).

Reports of a suspicious purchase of a boat paid for with a large amount of cash, among other intelligence information, were received by detectives from the Department for combating organized criminal groups (OCG) at the end of April, the law enforcement agencies said in a statement.

Currently, according to the Australian police, additional searches are being conducted in the homes of the detainees, and the cargo itself has been handed over to forensic experts to study and classify the exact type of prohibited substances.

Wiped out: two brothers convicted in the case of smuggling half a ton of cocaine

Some of the defendants managed to escape after the jury acquitted them.

On April 23, the Dutch Customs Service seized two shipments of cocaine during two inspections, the total weight of which was 633 kg. The retail value of this batch would be € 16 million.