Inside story of South Australia’s largest drug seizure – the $250 million cocaine bust

This is the moment the AFP intercepts part of the largest drug shipment in SA history, a $250m cocaine bust. Now they have revealed intricate new details of the extraordinary operation. See the video.

At the whim of the wind and tide, the watertight containers could have been any kind of debris destined to wash up on an isolated Yorke Peninsula beach.

Except they were not. They held cocaine with a street value of $250m.

The shipment had already travelled some 16,500km from its likely origins in Colombia before being heaved off the stern of the grain carrier Kypros Bravery in darkness sometime on the night of March 14 and 15.

The shipment – the largest of any type of drug in SA history – had been the focus of an intensive air, sea and land search by officers involved in a hastily-formed, multi-jurisdictional operation dubbed Lithgow after a snippet of intelligence was received.

While those involved in Operation Lithgow – the Australian Federal Police, Border Force, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Department for Home Affairs and SA Police – had become aware of the drop-off, its precise location and who was collecting it was unknown.

After strategically dumping its illegal cargo, the 225-metre-long Kypros Bravery continued its journey to Adelaide, docking at Inner Harbour on March 15.

The Kypros Bravery, the 225m-long grain carrier that’s part of the Operation Lithgow drug investiation.

While Operation Lithgow was being mobilised, on March 17 ABF officers searched the ship. Two days later, on March 19, AFP officers moved in and interviewed the 18 crew members. Intelligence gained during the search and interviews was intensively investigated while the ABF continued its search of the waters off Yorke Peninsula for the shipment.

Over four days intensive searches in a huge area between Kangaroo Island, Yorke Peninsula and Wedge Island at the entrance to Spencer Gulf, were conducted looking for any sign of the shipment.

Search grids were formulated by examining wind and tidal flows, with the area gradually narrowed by Border Force planes and boats and finally, an SA police helicopter.

Simultaneously, land searches were taking place along beaches at the foot of Yorke Peninsula and the southern Fleurieu Peninsula in case the drugs had washed ashore – or to locate those behind the importation operation in case they were also searching for their contraband.

Thankfully, the usually turbulent waters of Investigator Strait were unusually placid when the shipment was sighted floating in 52 metres of water several kilometres off the tip of Yorke Peninsula, between Wedge and Althorpe Islands, on March 21.

Some of the drug shipment on display at an AFP, Border force and SA Police press conference on March 31. Picture: Tom Huntley

After being hauled aboard a Border Force boat, the shipment was taken to Marion Bay to be unloaded, under the protection of a contingent of waiting STAR Group officers who escorted it back to Adelaide on March 22 for examination at the AFP’s Adelaide Airport headquarters.

Once removed from the containers its scale became apparent – the 416kg haul surprising even those involved.

Operation Lithgow officers continued investigations for another week after the discovery before moving on March 29 and 30 to execute a search warrant on the Kypros Bravery and reinterview those charged – two of whom are senior officers in the ship.

AFP Assistant Commissioner Peter Harvey said the location for the drop-off would not have been chosen at random, but because of its isolation.

“This method is not new. By sea is a common transport route and when you look at the length of coastline we have there are many opportunities,’’ he said.

“But if you look closer much of the coastline, such as along the Western Australian coastline, there are no roads and few ports.

“So you start to go to semirural locations such as Yorke Peninsula and across to Port Lincoln, there are good highways, good infrastructure.

“There is no point dropping any shipment off if you can’t transport it. It shows the planning and thought going into organised crime. It is not accidental, it is directed and every single player from bottom to top is crucial to the success of it.’’

Heavily-armed Australian Federal Police officers with the cocaine shipment, the largest drug bust in SA’s history. Picture: Tom Huntley

Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Peter Harvey to media on March 31 at AFP headquarters, Adelaide Airport. Picture: Tom Huntley

Mr Harvey said the cocaine shipment was most likely destined to be trafficked across the country if the plot had succeeded, with no evidence available to indicate such a quantity was solely for the South Australian market.

“It is an indication of the business model of organised crime. Individuals or syndicates pool money, buy the illicit substance and then take their share when it hits our shores,’’ he said.

“They share risk, they share funds and there is not always one kingpin sitting there with millions of dollars they want to risk.

“The important thing is when it goes wrong there is no arbiter to go to help sort it out such as consumer affairs, it is now done inside these criminal networks with violence, murder and payback.

“Someone lost a lot of money and despite claims of loyalty, camaraderie and mateship in organised crime, it doesn’t exist. They will turn on each other and destroy each other so they stay at the top.’’

The Kypros Bravery docked at Port Adelaide. Picture: 7 NEWS

Locating the shipment and arresting four crew from the Kypros Bravery – Ian Gelan Dizon, Alcris Dente Mabini, Mark Torrenueva Enriquez and Angelito Devalaque Balansag, who have been charged with importing or exporting a border control drug or plant – was just the start of the investigation.

“We will be looking at aspects including who was going to receive it and who organised it and how,’’ Mr Harvey said.

Australian Border Force acting Chief Superintendent Alex Kelsall said the operation to find the drugs was unprecedented in scale, with land and sea patrols involving more than 60 ABF officers.

“It was like looking for a needle in a haystack so to be able to find the drugs and bring them to shore is a testament to the efforts of our officers. We had officers on patrol everywhere – on the sea, in the air and from the land,’’ he said.