Captain on cargo ship arrested after $128m cocaine haul

A cargo ship captain, dubbed Captain Coke, has been charged after allegedly smuggling $128m worth of cocaine into Western Australia.

He was arrested onboard Interlink Veracity after authorities seized 320 kilograms of cocaine on May 15.

Two other men have been arrested. It’s alleged they collected the plastic wrapped drugs from the ocean after the shipmaster smuggled the cocaine onto the cargo vessel at an overseas port, and later dropped the packages into the water for retrieval.

The haul was found inside a campervan and had been divided into 1kg blocks.

“Trusted insiders are one of the highest threats to the integrity of Australia’s cargo supply chains,” says AFP’s acting assistant commissioner John Tanti.

“Transnational organised crime syndicates rely on people who are willing to abuse the access and influence they have through their employment to help bring illicit drugs into Australia, as the accused is alleged to have done in this case.”