Man Charged with Alleged Importation of 560kg of Cocaine From Queensland
Jones & Associates are acting for one of the three men from Queensland, Australia, who have been charged over the alleged importation of more than 500kg of cocaine to Western Australia by boat. According to the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the men bought a boat in order to collect large plastic-wrapped packages of cocaine that were dropped into the water by a bulk carrier off the coast of Western Australia. The drugs were later seized at a house in Kalbarri.
The AFP said the bust came after a tip-off was passed on to authorities about a suspicious vessel. On August 9, AFP officers boarded a bulk carrier off the Fremantle coast after it was identified as a “vessel of interest”. Two days later, it raided a house in the small seaside town of Kalbarri, 480 kilometres north of Perth, and found the 560-kilogram stash of cocaine worth $224 million.
Officers also seized a boat, two cars and about $30,000 in cash. Later that same day, the AFP swooped on houses allegedly linked to the three men in the Queensland town of Toogoolawah, and the Brisbane suburbs of Taigum and Redcliffe. On Wednesday this week, authorities then executed a search warrant on a bulk carrier in Port Lincoln, South Australia, in relation to the operation.
Jones & Associates will be appearing for one of the accused in Perth next month.