Washed up cocaine: Police arrest alleged Australian ringleader
Police have made a breakthrough in the curious case of bricks of cocaine washing up on NSW beaches, arresting a man over what they allege was a botched importation and accusing him of being one of the nation’s biggest drug traffickers.
Police have made a breakthrough in the curious case of bricks of cocaine washing up on NSW beaches, arresting a man over an alleged botched importation and accusing him of being one of the nation’s biggest drug traffickers.
The Australian Federal Police allege Daniel Wayne John Roberts was the Australian leader of a transnational organised crime syndicate that attempted to import 900kg of cocaine offloaded at sea near Queensland’s Moreton Island in November 2023.
Severe weather hindered the smuggling attempt, and the drugs were never collected, police allege.
Instead, parcels of the cocaine began washing up on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle about six weeks later.
Roberts, 36, was arrested after attending a gym in Brisbane’s northern suburbs on Wednesday afternoon and was listed to appear in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Thursday on a raft of charges including drug importation and trafficking and arson.
He allegedly used the handles “WANTED” and “John Dillinger” in encrypted communications.
Dillinger was a notorious American gangster during the Great Depression.
Police suspect Roberts was involved in conspiracies to import a further 20 tonnes of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into Australia since late 2023, and allege he was behind the importation of 560kg of cocaine into Western Australia last year.
He is accused of using violence and threats to collect debts and intimidate rivals, with federal and state investigators saying in a joint statement that he allegedly “engaged criminal associates to assault, firebomb, shoot at and extort his customers”.
Targeted arson attacks were made in Brisbane against a barber shop and a florist, and five shots were fired into a house at Morningside with two adults and five children inside.
About 256kg of cocaine, worth around $100m, has been found on NSW beaches since December, prompting investigators to scour the coastline and to warn people of serious penalties if they hold on to the drugs and are caught in possession.
But almost 650kg of the drug remains unaccounted for.
“Doing the maths, we believe there is more out there. And it’s a reminder of what New South Wales has said publicly, that you’re facing very serious offences if you take possession of those drugs,” AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer said.
Police will allege Roberts separately facilitated the importation and collection of about 560kg of cocaine into WA’s Mid-West region in August 2023, which was seized by authorities.
The drugs were allegedly dropped overboard from a bulk cargo carrier before being collected from the ocean and brought to shore in the coastal town of Kalbarri.
Six men have already been charged over the 560kg WA importation, with the sixth extradited from Queensland to WA in March to face charges.
Police are also investigating his suspected involvement in the trafficking of cocaine, MDMA and methamphetamine across Australia between 2022 and 2024.
Roberts was arrested as part of Operation Groot, a major joint investigation by the Queensland Joint Organised Crime Taskforce, comprising the AFP, Queensland Police Service, Australian Border Force, the Department of Home Affairs and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission. It began in early 2023.
He allegedly used dedicated encrypted communication platforms to contract out drug pick-up jobs and try to conceal his criminal activities from law enforcement.
The discoveries of cocaine in NSW began on a Friday night in December when Tuggerah Lakes Police District officers were called to Magenta Beach on the NSW central coast after a member of the public found a suspicious parcel which had washed ashore nearby.
Local police attended and seized the item, which was covered in barnacles and allegedly contained 39 sealed packages inside, suspected to be approximately 39kg of cocaine.
On Christmas Eve, members of the public found a further seven individually wrapped packages at Magenta Beach, Pelican Beach, Blacksmith Beach, Avoca Beach, Pentaloon Bay and North Steyne Beach.
The packages were handed in to local police, which were believed to contain a further 7kg of cocaine.
About 11am Boxing Day, Marine Area Command officers were called to Barrenjoey Headland off Sydney’s Northern Beaches where a fisherman had found a blue barrel containing 39 individually wrapped 1kg bricks of cocaine.
About 5.30pm the same day, Newcastle City Police District officers were called to Newcastle Ocean Baths after a member of the public found a further 39 individually sealed 1kg cocaine bricks.
More packages have washed up since. The cocaine bricks had labels such as Tesla, Zoe, and R-Z.
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