Yachties in Australia's third-largest police drug haul

by Brisbane Times/Sail-World Cruising on 15 Oct 2010 'If he's a yachtie he must be okay.' There is an ongoing trust among yachties that the guy who just berthed beside you, whose lines you took and who will probably let yours off tomorrow, must be 'okay'.

Ninety-nine percent of the time the adage holds, but where Australia's third largest ever drug haul is concerned this week, it would be just as well not to be having a casual drink with the crew when the police arrive.

Australian authorities have just cornered two sailing boats - a yacht and a catamaran - in the third largest drug haul in Australia's history - 464 kilos of cocaine, worth about $160,000.

After Federal Police received word from US authorities that drug smugglers were allegedly en route to Australia, with more than 460 kilograms of cocaine on board their luxury yacht, they sprang into action.

Within hours, the Customs and Border Protection Service had launched a full scale aerial search across the entire east coast of Australia for two vessels that were intending to rendezvous.

Customs and Border Protection deputy chief executive Marion Grant told the http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au!Brisbane_Times they had 'no picture of what the vessels looked like'.

'We had an approximate location far off the east coast of Australia as to where these two vessels may be conducting their rendezvous. So we started an extensive aerial surveillance operation,' she said.

'From mid-afternoon last Thursday, we flew planes over large spans of the Pacific Ocean.

'It was very much searching for a needle in the haystack.'

Authorities undertook an exhaustive process of elimination as they tracked each and every vessel off the east coast.

Success came late on Friday, when the alleged 'vessels of interest' were located, about 400 nautical miles off the Queensland coast.

Little did the alleged smugglers know, Australian authorities were keeping watch from the sky, for six days, as the cargo was allegedly transferred from the 'mother' catamaran to a 40-foot sloop, and then sailed to Brisbane.

Authorities pounced once the yacht docked at the Scarborough Marina on Tuesday.

There, they arrested two men on board and a third man who arrived to meet the yacht.

The trio appeared in Brisbane Magistrates Court yesterday charged with attempting to import a commercial quantity of drugs and attempt possession of drugs.

On board the yacht, police allegedly found duffel bags and backpacks filled with blocks of cocaine tightly wrapped in black and brown packing tape.

Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner Andrew Colvin said the alleged narcotics were easily visible.

'They certainly didn't go to any great effort to conceal it once it was on the vessel,' he said.

Police allege the bags of cocaine were found on the floors and in cupboards of each of the cabins on board.

Meanwhile, New South Wales Water Police and the Customs and Border Protection Service surrounded the catamaran, then about 200 nautical miles off the coast, Ms Grant said.

'The operation was conducted in incredibly hazardous seas. If you had a choice, you would not have been out on a boat in these conditions,' she said.

'Our officers persevered through 13 metre seas, constant bad weather and incredibly long days. The boarding took place in close proximity to the alleged rendezvous point.'

Customs and Border Protection officers detained two men, believed to be from Costa Rica and Germany, on board.

A new Customs vessel, the Ocean Protector, is expected to return to Brisbane in the coming days, with the catamaran in tow.