Mr E. Moore
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2001
- Messages
- 308
FYI Peoples, from ninemsn 4/5/2001
Massive illicit drugs haul weighs in at 90kg
Cocaine worth an estimated $22.5 million has been seized by police and customs officials in a raid on a yacht moored off Brisbane.
Yesterday's seizure of about 90 kg of cocaine was Australia's sixth largest drugs haul, authorities said today.
The raid, conducted at about lunchtime yesterday, was the result of a two-year investigation by Australian police with the cooperation of authorities in the United States and New Caledonia.
The 17-metre yacht had been tracked from Colombia and through Noumea to its mooring near Moreton Island in Brisbane's Moreton Bay.
Customs Minister Chris Ellison, who announced the seizure today, said police and customs officials who boarded the yacht found 100 blocks of cocaine stored in four bags.
Senator Ellison said the raid had prevented about 450,000 hits of cocaine reaching the streets of Australia.
The yacht had been tracked for more than a week by Coastwatch aircraft as it headed to Australia from New Caledonia.
"This was a world-class surveillance effort by Customs Coastwatch," Senator Ellison said in a statement.
"They identified and then tracked a vessel over an extended offshore areas for more than a week without that vessel knowing that it was under surveillance."
A 58-year-old US citizen and a 37-year-old Australian citizen have been charged with drug-related offences.
Police are also trying to extradite a 44-year-old Australian man, who was taken into custody in the US yesterday.
Massive illicit drugs haul weighs in at 90kg
Cocaine worth an estimated $22.5 million has been seized by police and customs officials in a raid on a yacht moored off Brisbane.
Yesterday's seizure of about 90 kg of cocaine was Australia's sixth largest drugs haul, authorities said today.
The raid, conducted at about lunchtime yesterday, was the result of a two-year investigation by Australian police with the cooperation of authorities in the United States and New Caledonia.
The 17-metre yacht had been tracked from Colombia and through Noumea to its mooring near Moreton Island in Brisbane's Moreton Bay.
Customs Minister Chris Ellison, who announced the seizure today, said police and customs officials who boarded the yacht found 100 blocks of cocaine stored in four bags.
Senator Ellison said the raid had prevented about 450,000 hits of cocaine reaching the streets of Australia.
The yacht had been tracked for more than a week by Coastwatch aircraft as it headed to Australia from New Caledonia.
"This was a world-class surveillance effort by Customs Coastwatch," Senator Ellison said in a statement.
"They identified and then tracked a vessel over an extended offshore areas for more than a week without that vessel knowing that it was under surveillance."
A 58-year-old US citizen and a 37-year-old Australian citizen have been charged with drug-related offences.
Police are also trying to extradite a 44-year-old Australian man, who was taken into custody in the US yesterday.