The federal police’s top drug cop has warned the world’s most fearsome drug cartels are increasingly exploiting Australia’s vulnerable marine borders and that semi-submersibles are the new frontier for law enforcement in the battle against the importation of illicit drugs.
Organised crime was also pushing emerging drugs like pink cocaine into Australia, the AFP commander Paula Hudson told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She said European crime gangs were working to introduce novel substances and create appetite in Australia in pursuit of the extraordinary profits offered by one of the world’s most lucrative drug markets.
Paula Hudson, commander of the AFP’s Transnational Operations CommandCredit: Dion Georgopoulos
“There was a semi-submersible in Mexico that was recently taken out with three or four tonnes of cocaine that was destined for Australia,” Hudson said in an interview after an investigation by this masthead revealed an underwater cocaine superhighway into the Port of Newcastle.
Colloquially known as a narco-submarines, semi-submersibles track almost entirely under the ocean’s surface and are less likely than conventional vessels to be detected by a radar or sonar systems. They are also hard to spot by eye.
“It’s a very concerning emerging threat. We are starting to see evidence from our partners in South America detecting those submarines,” Hudson said.
Authorities are particularly concerned about semi-submersibles because of the volume of drugs they can import.
US Coast Guard members board a self-propelled semi-submersible in international waters.Credit: US Coast Guard/AP
“We’re always mindful of all the streams – air, parcel post, cargo, plane passengers – but it’s the boats [that are particularly concerning],” she said.
Drug importers have historically used mother-daughter ship rendezvous, where a smaller ship meets a larger one in the ocean before bringing the drugs into shore; or dead drops at sea in which one ship leaves a package for another at a destination that can be located via Apple AirPods or a similar device. Imports via concealment in or on a large tanker, often unbeknownst to the crew, or a yacht sailed into Australian waters are also common. Maritime drug imports have ramped up significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We know that the best bang for their buck is to get drugs in by the tonnages and that’s going to come by water, so that is our most vulnerable place. We have massive borders and that makes us very vulnerable to maritime ventures,” Hudson said.
A yacht seized by the AFP off Townsville in 2023 was allegedly part of a plot to import 247kg of cocaine into Australia. Credit: Police Media
As well as porous borders and high prices, there is also significant appetite for illicit drugs in Australia.
“During the 2023-24 financial year, we seized 5.6 tonnes at our borders and within Australia. Our foreign partners seized five tonnes destined for Australia. Then we overlay that with the Australian Wastewater Analysis that … says four tonnes of cocaine has been estimated, has been consumed in Australia.
“That’s your overarching picture, 14 tonnes of cocaine.”
Cocaine sells for $230,000 per kilogram in Australia; it can be bought in South America for $1000 per kilogram.
“The commodity doesn’t really matter either for them. They just will deal in whatever will yield the greatest money: drugs, people trafficking, illicit tobacco or firearms trafficking,” Hudson said.
European organised crime figures are now working to establish drug appetites in Australia beyond what already exists.
“These emerging drugs that we keep seeing on the horizon like pink cocaine and ketamine are really spiking,” Hudson said.
“It’s a particular thing that the European community are craving, so what organised crime do is they test the market and they see whether there is a market, or they create a market in Australia.
“They already know that in Australia, we have an insatiable appetite for methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. That’s that constant threat that they will be pushing. What we’re seeing now in consignments is they’ll have, say, one tonne of cocaine, but there’ll be 200 kilos of pink cocaine or they’ll throw in 40 kilos of ketamine just to see if the market takes off in Australia.”