Former ‘porn model’ turned drug mule Isabelle Lagace (pictured) admitted trying to smuggle 30kg of cocaine into Australia via a cruise ship
Greedy cocaine smugglers have unleashed a fleet of so-called ‘blow boats’ towards Australia from tropical islands in the south Pacific.
The Federal police have revealed the 3.3 tonnes amount of drugs seized from private yachts since December 2016 – as use of the drug soars in Australia.
The seizures involved four major stings involving French or Pacific Islands crime fighting authorities.
Australian authorities also played a crucial role in a French Navy effort which captured a further 1.4 tonnes from a yacht in New Caledonia in July.
These huge shipments are ‘massive and fairly unprecedented’, experts have told Daily Mail Australia.
Based on previous estimates, they could have a combined street value of about $1 billion.
Professor Andrew Goldsmith from Flinders University said cocaine comes ‘overwhelmingly’ from Colombia and Peru (on right). Loads of cocaine believed to be bound for Australia have been found in Tahiti, Vanuatu and near Tonga, reports said
Cocaine smuggler Isabelle Lagace (left and right) pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug after a trip around the world by cruise
Another coke yacht: In this separate October sting, police intercepted this yacht believed to be filled with 700kg of cocaine at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney
More than half a tonne of cocaine was found concealed in the hull of the vessel
In February, in its most significant sting, the AFP helped seize a record 1.4 tonnes in cocaine from the yacht, Elakha, after it met a ‘mothership’ in the Pacific. Unbeknownst to the alleged smugglers, authorities had been monitoring them from the Pacific Transnational Crime Coordination Centre (PTCCC) in Samoa.
This past October, the AFP also seized 600kg off the coast of New Caledonia and a further 700kg last month in Lake Macquarie, allegedly en route from Tahiti.
Last Christmas, police seized more than 600kg of cocaine when they busted a massive alleged ring involving 15 men, which detectives claimed involved a fishing vessel.
Plus, in late August 2016, Canadian porn star turned drug mule Isabelle Lagace attempted to smuggle a suitcase of 30kg of cocaine into Sydney – this time via a cruise vessel which had travelled to Australia via the south Pacific.
Professor Andrew Goldsmith, a top criminologist from Flinders University, said the ‘massive’ boat importations are ‘pretty substantial and fairly unprecedented’.
‘Sailing boats have been crisscrossing the Pacific forever so the fact people use them to bring cocaine is not surprising to me,’ he said.
It is quite common for cocaine to be transported by sea up the west coast of South America to Mexico, he said.
This is a further 1.4 tonnes of cocaine seized off the coast of New Caledonia on July 27, 2017, as foiled by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
This yacht was found marooned on a deserted tropical island in the south Pacific in 2012. Stashed on board was more than 200kg of cocaine and a badly decomposed body
Local police said the yacht was likely destined for Australia – where cocaine use is surging and the price is one of the highest in the world
But there was a massive – and no doubt tempting – possible payoff for smugglers looking to transport cocaine into Australia.
‘Australia is renowned as probably paying the highest price per gram in the world,’ Professor Goldsmith said.
‘It makes it a naturally attractive target for drug traffickers to get it here.
‘We’re a big market but they’re massive importations.’
Demand for cocaine – which sells for at least $300 a bag in Sydney – is skyrocketing, according to Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research figures.
Over the 12 months to September 2016, BOCSAR recorded 1817 incidents of cocaine possession. Over the 12 months to September 2017, the figure was 2566.
‘It’s been steadily climbing,’ the bureau’s Dr Don Weatherburn told the Australian Associated Press recently.
‘I think it would be a fair thing to say that it reflects, at least in part, a real increase in cocaine consumption.’
Meanwhile, on the streets of Sydney: A man is arrested within view of the Sydney Opera House as part of an operation conducted by Strike Force Northrop, targeting dial-a-dealer cocaine supply
But it is rare for cocaine to be detected at the Australian border in sea cargo, statistics said.
The latest Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission report found sea cargo amounted to 0.1 per cent of detections.
Meantime, a huge majority – 94.7 per cent – of all cocaine importations detected were shipments through the international post.
An AFP spokesman said: ‘Over the past two years the AFP has achieved significant success through close collaboration with Australian and international partner agencies to disrupt transnational crime’.
Other big seizures of cocaine from boats in recent years include the discovery of a marooned yacht on a deserted Pacific island in November 2012 – with 204kg of cocaine and a badly decomposing body stashed inside. Local investigators said the shipment was destined for Australia.
In 2011, Spanish skipper Ivan Ramos-Valea was caught importing 300kg of cocaine from Vanuatu to Bundaberg, Queensland, on his racing yacht Friday Freedom.
His wife, Julia, was jailed for two years for a crime she didn’t commit before she was acquitted of drug smuggling charges by a jury.
A DROP IN THE OCEAN: COCAINE COMING TO AUSTRALIA THROUGH THE SOUTH PACIFIC
November 15, 2012: Tongan police find a yacht marooned on a deserted Pacific island with a badly decomposing body and 204kg of cocaine (worth up to $116 million). Investigators said the shipment was destined for Australia
August 2013: A joint Australian-US operation uncovers a yacht, Raj, moore at Port Vila, Vanuatu with an estimated 750kg of cocaine stashed in engine compartments and around its keel
November 2013: Skipper Ivan Maria Ramos-Valea is sentenced to 25 years’ jail for the brazen 2011 importation of 300kg of cocaine from Vanuatu to Bundaberg, Queensland on the yacht Friday Freedom
Drug smuggler skipper Ivan Ramos-Valea (right) and his wife, Julia, who would spent two years in jail for a crime she didn’t commit
His wife Julia Fernandez, who accompanied him on the journey, would spend two years in jail for a crime she didn’t commit before being acquitted by a jury
August 2015: Five men are arrested on the Gold Coast after police seize more than 70kg of cocaine from a moored yacht, the Solay, at Coomera. Police alleged the vehicle travelled from Vanuatu
March 2016: The French Navy intercepts a 600kg shipment of cocaine off Tahiti. Police would later allege the shipment was en route to shores Down Under
August 2016: ‘Porn model’ Isabelle Lagace is arrested after attempting to smuggle 30kg of cocaine into Australia via a cruise ship. She pleads guilty to importing a commercial quantity of cocaine
December 25, 2016: Police allege a conspiracy to import 500kg of cocaine from South America, worth an estimated $360million. The shipment was allegedly uncovered on a boat in Sydney. The importation plot allegedly involved a rendezvous with a Chilean ‘mothership’ in international waters
February 3, 2017: Six men are arrested and 1.4 tonnes of cocaine – with an estimated street value of more than $312 million – seized after the New Zealand yacht, Elakha, is intercepted 370 kilometres off the coast off the New South Wales south coast. Police alleged the yacht had met a ‘mothership’ in the South Pacific
July 27, 2017: Four men, from Lithuania and Latvia, are caught by the French Navy near Tonga smuggling a record-breaking 1.4 tonnes shipment of cocaine on the yacht Afalina
November 15, 2017: Police intercept a yacht believed to be filled with 700kg of cocaine (street market value $245 million) at Lake Macquarie, north of Sydney, and arrest three men aged between 47 and 68.
Investigators said the arrests came amid assistance from Tahitian police and came after authorities had tracked a vessel of interest through the South Pacific Ocean