The largest cocaine bust in Australia’s history has been made off the coast of Queensland.
Australian Federal Police have charged 11 men and two juveniles over the alleged drug smuggling plot.
They allege the group conspired to import 2.34 tonnes of the drug in Australia by sea.
“The men, including the crew of a vessel allegedly attempting to import the illicit drugs into Queensland and multiple parties waiting on shore to collect the cocaine, were arrested on Saturday night and in the early hours of Sunday,” the AFP said.
“The AFP will allege one of the men arrested on Saturday night was the vice-president of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle club’s Brisbane chapter”.
Authorities foiled the plot after receiving intelligence in November that a criminal syndicate with links to the Comanchero motorcycle crime gang was planning to import border-controlled drugs into Australia.
In the past week, the AFP tracked a recreational fishing boat as it travelled to sea, where it allegedly met a mothership to collect the cocaine, before returning towards the Queensland coastline.
When the fishing boat became stranded about 18km off the northeastern tip of K’gari due to a suspected mechanical breakdown on Saturday, authorities initiated multiple arrests at sea, in the Bundaberg region and Brisbane.
The bust is being described as the largest ever seizure of cocaine in Australia, with the drugs estimated to have a street value of $760 million.
The 11 men and two juveniles, alleged to be members of the criminal syndicate, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of border-controlled drugs.
The maximum penalty is life imprisonment.
