1.4 tonnes.
Think about that weight for a moment. That’s equivalent to a reasonably-priced Japanese hatchback, your entire rec-league footy team, or a particularly husky giraffe.
Yet, somehow, that’s how much cocaine the Australian Federal Police seized during a huuuge bust last week. One point four goddamn tonnes.
And it’s an Australian record.
All told, authorities reckon that would have accounted for 1.4 million average hits, with a street value around $312 million. Fair crack of the snaplock, that.
The seizure was made on Thursday, when a yacht absolutely laden with yay was intercepted by the Navy vessel HMAS Bathurst about 370km east of New South Wales.
Authorities nicked the vessel’s two occupants, a 63-year-old Kiwi and a 54-year-old Swiss-Fijian national. Three others were arrested on the mainland in relation to the bust.
The drug importation charges they’ve been slapped with carry a maximum life sentence. A sixth man was arrested on suspicion of being involved, too.
It’s alleged the yacht Elakha, travelling from New Zealand, had received the drugs from a “mother ship” which was floating around the South Pacific.
According to AFP acting Deputy Commissioner Neil Gaughan, this bust was the result of more than two years of work on Operation Armour. At least the bust is tied to a cool-ish name.
Gaughan reckons cocaine is so overpriced in Australia that it presents “a honey pot effect for organised criminals from all around the world.”
Still, said crims may have to rethink the rinky-dink yacht approach after this one, hey?
Source: news.com.au.
Photo: Australian Federal Police.
