More than £260m worth of cocaine found floating in Pacific Ocean
New Zealand says seizure of more than three tonnes of cocaine is the country’s largest drugs seizure
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.More than three tonnes of cocaine, with a street value of more than £260m, has been found floating in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean.
It is thought to have been dropped there by an international drug-smuggling syndicate.
While no arrests have been made, police in New Zealand say the country's largest drugs seizure has dealt a financial blow to everyone from the South American producers of the drug through to the distributors.
New Zealand police commissioner Andrew Coster said the cocaine was dropped at a floating transit point in 81 bales before being intercepted by a navy ship deployed to the area last week.
The ship then made a six-day trip back to New Zealand, where the drugs were being documented and destroyed.
“This is the largest find of illicit drugs by New Zealand agencies, by some margin,” Mr Coster said of the find, worth about 500 million New Zealand dollars.
"While this disrupts the syndicate's operations, we remain vigilant given the lengths we know these groups will go to circumvent coming to law enforcement's attention," he said
Some of the packages were labelled with a Batman symbol. Pictures released by New Zealand police and defence officials also showed cocaine packets labelled with a black four-leaf clover symbol. These were the "trademark logos" for the drug producers.
Mr Coster said the 3.2 tonnes of cocaine were likely destined for Australia. "We believe there was enough cocaine to service the Australian market for about one year and this would be more than New Zealand would use in 30 years," he added.
Mr Coster said police, customs officials and the military found the drugs after launching Operation Hydros in December in collaboration with international partner agencies to identify and monitor the movements of suspicious vessels. He said they are continuing to investigate the case with other international agencies.
Partners in the Five Eyes intelligence group – which includes Australia, the UK, Canada, and the US – had provided assistance.
Bill Perry, the acting comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service, said the haul illustrates the lengths organised syndicates are going to in order to smuggle drugs in the South Pacific.
"We see perhaps this is just an indication that the transnational organised crime groups are testing the market in different ways, so as agencies we need to collaborate," he said.
Associated Press
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments