The largest drug bust in Australian history has been carried out by WA police after an undercover operation led to the seizure of 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth approximately $1 billion.
On Saturday, WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch revealed how officers outsmarted cartels attempting to land the country’s largest-ever drug supply via Perth’s beaches, replacing the cocaine with gypsum before attacking the alleged smugglers.
“On December 28, we saw nine men enter Western Australia, some of them from WA,” he said.
“We had members from New South Wales, Northern Territory and one from the United States and we will claim they were here to collect those 2.4 tons of cocaine and distribute it to our country.
“Now we have indeed broken down those drugs, even though they were seized from the United States, we have reconstructed them using plaster.
“For several weeks our officers from the (AFP) Transnational, Serious and Organized Crime unit and other officers helped reconstruct those identical packages and dropped 1.2 tons of those drugs into the ocean 40 miles off the coast of Joondalup. ”
A man is arrested by WA police as part of a seizure of drugs being imported into Australia.Credit:police media
Over the next few days, police watched as two boats were used to take the “drugs” to shore, where three men were arrested at Moore River and another six at Hillarys Boat Harbour.
“I say it’s a great effort to defend our shores to defend our country against the threat of organized crime,” Blanch said.
