Who owns the washed-up cocaine? Sydney’s underworld abuzz

Dumped or lost at sea? As police search for barnacled bricks of cocaine washed up on NSW beaches, Sydney’s underworld just wants to what stamp the blocks carry … then they’ll know the owner.

Police are warning people not to touch barnacle-encrusted packages of cocaine, triple-0 after seven blocks were washed up on beaches at Magenta, Blacksmiths, Avoca, and Manly since late Friday. Picture: Supplied

The Sydney underworld is buzzing with speculation about who might own millions of dollars worth of cocaine which has washed up on beaches from Newcastle to Manly in the past three days.

Seven packages of varying amounts have been found by police after a member of the public found a barnacled bundle on the beach at Magenta, on the North Coast.

“Searching continues by police from the Manning Lakes area, Brisbane Waters on the Central Coast and the Northern beaches,’’ a police spokesperson said today.

Police are checking all the beaches along the coast line for more drugs that may have washed up.

The covering of barnacles on the packages suggests they have been in the ocean for an extended period of time.

More blocks of cocaine, tightly wrapped in plastic were found at Avoca, Blacksmiths and Manly beaches on Saturday.

While NSW police are scouring for more of the drug consignment that has somehow come adrift, Sydney criminals are more interested in knowing whose it is.

DUMPED OR LOST AT SEA?

“If the police released pictures of the stamps on the packaging, they would get information pretty quickly of who it was supposed to be delivered to,” said an underworld source.

Stamps aremarkings put on 1kg blocks of cocaine to identify who the shipments belong to. Odten labels from fashion brands like Gucci, Chanel and Versace to superhero symbols like Batman are used.

”Everyone is speculating about who it is and what happened. Was it thrown overboard or did it come loose?” the source said.

“I think there may be a few boys heading up the coast doing some beach walking seeing if they can find a package or two before the cops.”

International drug cartels use a myriad of ways to import large sums of drugs, with one common way to attach the shipment to the bottom of cargo vessels and then have scuba divers retrieve it when it’s in port.

NOT SECURE ENOUGH?

One theory is that this is part of a consignment that somehow wasn't secured enough.

Police are releasing little information at the moment including the actual quantity of the finds at various beaches or any markings on the packaging which they may have found.

“They will have to do a fair bit of investigating to try and find the source,” said a former drug squad detective.

“Once they have the markings on the packaging they will probably send it to overseas agencies to see if they recognise it belonging to any one particular cartel.”

Investigators urge anyone who may have seen parcels similar to that depicted to contact their local police.