The Australian Federal Police charged 11 men and two juveniles after uncovering 2.34 tonnes of cocaine, worth$760 million, onboard a ship returning into Queensland waters.
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00:00The AFP has seized more than 2.3 tonnes of cocaine
00:03in what we believe is the largest ever seizure of the drug in Australia.
00:08The AFP seized the drugs on Saturday night after successfully
00:12disrupting an alleged plot by a transnational organised crime syndicate
00:16attempting to import the cocaine into Australia via a sea to sea
00:21transfer off the coast of Queensland. The AFP and the Queensland Police Service
00:26have been jointly investigating this matter for the past month
00:29following intelligence being received that an alleged criminal syndicate
00:33with links to the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang
00:37were planning a multi-tonne cocaine import off the coast of Queensland.
00:43Over the past few days investigators tracked a vessel
00:47that syndicate allegedly sent to collect the drugs from a mother ship
00:51located approximately 460 kilometres off the Queensland coast.
00:57As the vessel returned to Queensland coast on Saturday evening it suffered
01:00mechanical issues and broke down triggering a coordinated
01:05police action on Saturday evening at sea in the Bundaberg region and in
01:10Brisbane leading to the arrest of 11 men and two
01:14juveniles we will allege were involved
01:17in this conspiracy to import more than two tonnes of cocaine into Australia.
01:22Each member of the alleged criminal syndicate has been charged with a single
01:25count of conspiracy to import 2.34 tonnes of cocaine into Australia
01:30which as I mentioned we believe is the largest ever
01:33seizure of cocaine in this country.