Australian authorities charged 11 men and two juveniles after seizing 2.34 tonnes of cocaine from a vessel off Queensland, describing the haul as the largest cocaine seizure recorded in the country.
The Australian Federal Police and Queensland Police said the group was linked to an alleged transnational organised-crime operation. Investigators had been monitoring a fishing boat that they said travelled offshore to collect cocaine from a larger vessel in international waters. The smaller boat developed mechanical problems while returning toward Queensland, allowing police to coordinate arrests and recover the cargo.
Authorities estimated the cocaine’s street value at 760 million Australian dollars, then equivalent to about $494 million. Each defendant was charged with conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. The charge carries a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment, but the accusations had not been tested in court.
Among those arrested were the vice president of the Comancheros motorcycle club’s Brisbane chapter and another patched member, according to police. Investigators alleged the group had made two collection attempts using separate boats and spent A$150,000 on a replacement vessel after the first one failed. The second boat also broke down, leaving people aboard stranded for several hours before officers arrived.
Police said the drugs originated in South America but did not identify a specific country. They alleged the Comancheros would have played a role in distributing the shipment after it reached Australia. The operation followed a tip received months earlier that a motorcycle gang was preparing to import drugs by sea.
Proceedings began in several Queensland courts. Eight matters were mentioned in Bundaberg Magistrates Court, where one defendant’s bail application was refused after his lawyer argued that the case against him was circumstantial. Two other defendants appeared through proceedings in Maryborough, while another was due before a court in Cleveland. The two juveniles were also among those charged, but the supplied reports did not identify them.
The seizure focused attention on smaller coastal centres such as Hervey Bay and Bundaberg. Police unloaded the cocaine at the harbour in Urangan, a community normally associated with fishing and whale-watching. A Queensland University of Technology criminal-justice specialist said traffickers may favour regional coastal areas to avoid the stronger law-enforcement presence around major ports.
Federal police commander Stephen Jay said maritime drug retrieval was inherently dangerous as well as illegal. He predicted the seizure would disrupt a well-established criminal network and affect domestic supply. In the 2023–24 reporting year, Australian police seized 31.3 tonnes of illicit drugs and helped foreign authorities recover another 41.8 tonnes, according to the AFP figures cited in the supplied coverage.
