Drug bust: Fishing trawler intercepted carrying cocaine off NSW, three arrested
A fishing trawler has been intercepted off the state’s north coast by police who claim it was carrying a massive load of cocaine, with two Australians and a Chinese national arrested.
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Two Sydney men have been charged over an alleged plot to import as much as a tonne of cocaine that had been transferred from a Chinese mothership to a fishing trawler near Lord Howe Island.
Christopher John Preca, Jackson Ross Giles-Adams and Chinese national Man Wah Chan appeared before Magistrate Alexander Mijovich in Central Local Court on Monday accused of attempting to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. If convicted, they could be sentenced to life behind bars.
The trio have also been charged with failing or refusing to disclose their identity.
The Daily Telegraph understands police will allege the trawler “Coralynne” left from a port in northern NSW last week to meet with a larger fishing boat from China near Lord Howe Island.
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A police operation began on Thursday when the Australian Border Force picked up the presence of the Chinese vessel in Australian waters despite it not appearing to have a permit to fish. The ABF continued to monitor the ship which zigzagged for no apparent reason off the NSW north coast.
Alerted to the vessel, NSW and Australian Federal Police carried out surveillance in the belief it was a possible “mothership” carrying drugs.
Police are expected to accuse the men of transferring the cocaine from the Chinese vessel to the Coralynne.
Preca, Giles-Adams and Chan were aboard the 16m-long trawler on Saturday when Police Launch Nemesis intercepted it in waters off Newcastle. It is understood there was then an attempt to set the trawler and its illicit cargo on fire.
Battling 3m swells, police boarded the red trawler and arrested the men.
The state bomb squad had to be called in before the drugs could be inspected amid fears the boat could have been booby-trapped.
The Coralynne was towed to shore and was still undergoing testing at NSW Police Marine Area Command in Balmain late on Monday after the men were subjected to decontamination by NSW Fire and Rescue Hazardous Material Response Unit.
NSW Police Force images released last night showed a tattooed man in a face mask and handcuffs being escorted ashore by water police.
The exact amount of cocaine allegedly on board is as yet undetermined but is understood to approach a tonne.
“The boat is subject to ongoing investigative and forensics procedures, where the drugs will be unloaded and the full volume of the importation will be known,” an AFP spokesman said.
Meanwhile, search warrants were executed in Zetland, Chatswood and Glenbrook yesterday as part of what the AFP described as an “organised crime drug investigation”.
The Telegraph understands Preca, 32, is from Glenbrook and that Giles-Adams, 27, comes from Chatswood. Chan may be from Hong Kong. Giles-Adams is believed to be a tradesman.
Preca was at one point into bodybuilding, with pictures posted on Facebook by Darlinghurst’s City Gym showing his physical transformation during 2013.
None of the three men applied for bail, which was later formally refused. Their cases are due to return to Central Local Court on October 14.
A police source said: “The speed of detecting and intercepting this alleged shipment was amazing. Normally these operations are months in the making and we know that the drugs are coming in and we have time to plan everything.
“This was done in very real time and on top of everything there were massive seas making it all a bit harder.’’
Investigations are ongoing both locally and overseas with more arrests expected. Police are expected to reveal more about the investigation today.
It is one of the largest seizures of cocaine by Australian authorities. In February, two men were sentenced to life in jail by a Sydney court for attempted importation of 1.4 tonnes of coke. That three-year operation involved authorities from New Zealand, Fiji and French Polynesia.
It involved a group that travelled from New Zealand using a sailing vessel to a Chinese “mothership” in the South Pacific Ocean to collect the cocaine. It was then transported via a smaller vessel toward the NSW south coast.
And last month an Australia-bound plane allegedly carrying more than 500kg of cocaine crashed after takeoff in Papua New Guinea.