Cocaine washes up on Sydney beach
Five packages wrapped in plastic, suspected to contain cocaine, have washed ashore on Sydney beaches.
Discovered by beach visitors at Freshwater and Curl Curl on Monday, these parcels, totalling 5kg in weight, were confiscated by law enforcement.
Authorities believe these packages are part of a massive shipment of cocaine which has been washing up in bits since December.
Australians rank highest globally in per capita cocaine consumption, followed by Britons, as per OECD data.
“As inquiries continue, the public are reminded to report any suspicious package to authorities,” NSW Police said in a statement on Tuesday.
Over 250kg of cocaine has been found along the New South Wales coastline since the initial package was discovered in the Central Coast region, approximately 90km north of Sydney, just days before Christmas.
Since then, packages ranging in size, with some as heavy as 39kg, have surfaced on more than ten beaches across a 500km coastal stretch.
It is unclear how the bricks ended up in the ocean.
In January, NSW Police told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation they believed the drugs had originated in South America and likely made their way to Australia via a cargo ship.
“Sometimes we do see where items are deliberately tossed into the ocean to be picked up by another vessel,” State Crime Command director Jason Weinstein said.
Some of the found bricks were covered in barnacles, which detectives have analysed and say indicate the packages were in the water no more than six weeks before being discovered.