Why are bricks of cocaine washing up on Australian beach?

Australians are the number one users of cocaine in the world - followed only by Brits, according to the OECD.

Beachgoers are baffled after discovering plastic wrapped packages of cocaine on a popular Australian beach.

Walkers at Freshwater and Curl Curl beaches in Sydney discovered the parcels – weighing 5kg – that were quickly seized by police.

But packages of the drug have been washing up on Aussie shores since December, according to police.

More than 250kg of the addictive drug has been seized from the New South Wales coast since the first was found three days before Christmas.

NSW Police said in a statement: ‘As inquiries continue, the public are reminded to report any suspicious package to authorities.’

The cocaine is thought to have made their way towards Australia through a cargo ship, but their origin remains unknown.

State Crime Command director Jason Weinstein told ABC in January: ‘Sometimes we do see where items are deliberately tossed into the ocean to be picked up by another vessel.’

But many of the bricks haven’t been in the water long – investigators said some of the them had barnacles on them that were less than six months old.

The packages discovered in NSW have different bizarre labels, however: including Tesla, Zoe and R-Z. The meaning of the labels are unknown.

They’re thought to have originated in South America.

Australians are the number one users of cocaine in the world – followed only by Brits, according to the OECD.

Former drug detectives have speculated that the cocaine blocks were likely attached to the hull of a ‘mother ship’, and dislodged before finishing the journey.

Peter Moroney told ABC in January: ‘Hiding the cocaine within shipments and having that “rip and go” … that technique has been around for as long as I can remember.

‘That methodology is hundreds of years old, pirates used to do it off the coast of England, and off the coast of Africa.’

And shipping cocaine to Australia could prove valuable to drug dealers based in South America.

Cocaine is worth £110,000 per kilo in Australia, compared to just £26,000 in the UK.

Mr Moroney added: ‘If you looked at it cold-heartedly as a business model, why wouldn’t you ship your product to Australia?’

In 2022, a scuba diver was found dead in an Australian port with parcels of cocaine floating around his body.

Upon investigation, it was revealed the ship from Argentina was carrying kilos of cocaine underneath its hull, and the diver died while trying to retrieve them.

After the incident, security in Aussie ports has increased tenfold – with port authorities even using their own scuba divers and underwater vessels to search under boats for hidden drugs.

The UK has seen similar tactics, with the Border Force seizing £10,000,000 worth of cocaine in a raid on a container ship in Kent last year.

137kg of coke was hidden in four large holdalls placed below the water line inside the sea chest, an intake area used for seawater to maintain ship stability.

In November 2021, 46 kilos (101.4 pounds) of cocaine was found during an operation in Bristol.

A Met Police spokesperson said at the time: ‘Our diving operations team were conducting an underwater search of the ship’s hull.’

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