Norwegian diver Johan-Martinius Halvorsen pleads guilty to attempting to import cocaine at Port of Newcastle
A Norwegian national spent several days in Australia meticulously planning a complicated coke smuggling operation to retrieve more than 80kg of the drug from a ship’s hull in Newcastle. Here’s the latest from court.
Police & Courts
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On the same day police received an anonymous voicemail that here were drugs on board a foreign ship arriving at Newcastle, a Norwegian national was seen decked out head-to-toe in diving gear testing out equipment in preparation for a major coke smuggling operation.
Johan-Martinius Halvorsen, 33, had arrived in Australia just days earlier as he meticulously planned to recover more than 80kg of cocaine from the hull of MV Stalo, a ship from Brazil, which arrived at the Port of Newcastle on January 24 last year.
It was all part of a “sophisticated” international crime syndicate which saw Halvorsen, from the small Norway town of Horten, fly down-under to Queensland before he organised expensive and professional diving gear in a bid to retrieve the drugs.
But his plan was thwarted when, on January 23, police got an anonymous tip-off which led to Halvorsen’s arrest at Honeysuckle two days later.
In Newcastle District Court on Tuesday, the 33-year-old pleaded guilty via an interpreter to a charge of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawful border controlled drug between January 17 – 26.
It is an offence that carries the potential for life imprisonment.
He previously pleaded not guilty to the charge and was headed for a three-week trial with both civilian and federal police officers set to give evidence. With his change in plea, a sentence date has been set for March next year.
Detailed police facts state Halvorsen had flown into Brisbane airport on January 21 and for the next few days communicated with five others on encryption app ‘Signal’.
Using the code names ‘aquaman’ and ‘Norse diver’ on a chat titled ‘Finding Nemo’, the Norwegian discussed the location of the ship, equipment and retrieval of the coke, according to court documents.
He arranged the purchase of two seabob underwater scooters costing more than $50,000 before he booked an Airbnb in Port Stephens and bought expensive diving gear as well as a long list of tools.
Police facts said there was also evidence on his phone Halvorsen took screenshots of the ship and its location.
Court documents detailed that on January 23 the 33-year-old made his way to Blacksmiths Beach at Swansea where he used diving equipment and was seen by beachgoers, including lifesavers, wearing full black wetsuits with hoods and diving masks.
When asked what he did for a living he told witnesses he was an ‘ice diver’.
But by this time police were onto his plans and on January 24 Australian Border Force, the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police commenced Operation Oakley.
Court documents said police divers searched the ship before discovering sea chests with six waterproof duffel bags wrapped in plastic inside.
It contained 82 rectangular packages containing white powder which was later confirmed as cocaine.
Early the next morning Halvorsen arrived at Honeysuckle to put his plan into motion but at 3pm that afternoon police swooped and arrested the Norwegian, later seizing a large amount of diving equipment and identity documents.
Police facts said almost a month later AFP divers also discovered the two seabobs purchased by Halvorsen fastened to a pylon on Honeysuckle wharf covered in masking tape and diving weights attached.
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