Man Arrested In Relation to Cocaine Washing Up on Australian Beaches
Since late last year, mysterious bricks of cocaine have been washing up on Australian beaches. This week, authorities arrested a man who they believe may be the source of the wayward bricks.
The whole thing started in December, when seven barnacle-encrusted packages of cocaine washed up at Magenta in New South Wales. A month later, a Bondi Beach lifeguard found another brick while patrolling in a Jet Ski. At the beginning of April, another five packages washed up on the coast around Sydney. In total, around 256 kilograms of cocaine have turned up.
On Thursday, the Australian Federal Police announced it had arrested an unnamed 36-year-old man in relation to the cocaine. The man is allegedly the leader of a transnational criminal organization, whose botched 900-kg cocaine import led to the drugs washing up on NSW beaches. According to AFP, the man has imported more than two tons of cocaine into Australia in the past year, with an estimated street value of $617.5 million.
The man was arrested in the northern suburbs of Brisbane on the afternoon of April 17. He is due to appear in Brisbane court today, to face seven charges relating to the “importation of of commercial quantities of drugs and dealing in proceeds of crime,” per the AFP press release. The maximum penalty for these charges is life in prison. In addition, the man was charged with an additional 12 counts of using violence and threats to collect debts and intimidate rivals.
The post Man Arrested In Relation to Cocaine Washing Up on Australian Beaches first appeared on The Inertia.
