More than $300 million worth of cocaine has been found floating in a net in the Pacific Ocean.
New Zealand police said Wednesday that the discovery of the 3.2 tonnes of drugs – believed to be destined for Australia – dealt a “significant blow to the operation of an international crime syndicate”.
“There is no doubt that this discovery deals a serious financial blow, from the South American producers to the distributors of this product,” Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said in a statement.
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Bags of cocaine, said to have been recovered by NZ Police, Customs and the NZ Defense Force at sea, are seen in a net floating in the Pacific Ocean, in this undated image released on February 8, 2023. (Reuters/New Zealand Police)
He described the loot as “one of the largest seizures of illegal drugs by authorities in this country”.
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Bricks of cocaine recovered by New Zealand authorities. (New Zealand Police/Reuters)
Authorities say 81 bales of cocaine – estimated to be worth around $320 million according to Reuters – have been returned to New Zealand where they will be destroyed.
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New Zealand official stacks bricks of cocaine after discovery.
No arrests have yet been made, but the investigation is still ongoing.
“It is a huge illustration of how far organized crime will go with its global drug trafficking operations and it shows that we are not exempt from major organized crime drug smuggling efforts in this part of the world,” Bill Perry, Acting Comptroller of the New Zealand Customs Service said in a statement.
