Decomposed body, cocaine haul found on yacht

Updated

Australian, US and Pacific island authorities are probing the discovery of a decomposed body and more than 200 kilograms of cocaine on board a yacht which ran aground off the coast of Tonga.

The 13-metre yacht JeReVe left Ecuador in August, laden with 204 one-kilo blocks of cocaine which authorities believe was destined for the Australian market.

Police forces from Australia, Tonga and the Cook Islands, along with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), lost contact with the vessel on October 5.

The Australian Federal Police says the vessel was found washed up on the isolated atoll of Luatafito, 10 nautical miles off the capital of Tonga, exactly one month later.

The Australian Customs Service says it believes two crew members had been on board when the vessel left Ecuador.

The AFP has sent forensic pathologists to Tonga to help with the investigation and an autopsy is being conducted on the body.

AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner David Sharpe said the body was badly decomposed.

"It's a body that has obviously been sitting out in the sun for some time and it would have been a pretty ordinary sight, a horrific sight for the people that responded to that and found the body," he said.

Mr Sharpe said the operation was significant, involving the collaboration of multiple agencies spanning across the Asia-Pacific.

"This is an outstanding example of the effectiveness and strength of the relationships with our partners in the South Pacific and in the US to combat transnational crime in the region," Mr Sharpe said.

"Had the vessel reached Australia, the street value of the narcotics seized is estimated to be up to $116 million."

"The public health impacts alone on such a large seizure illustrate the importance for a collaborative approach to disrupting transnational crime."

Mr Sharpe says he cannot comment on the whereabouts of the other man on the boat when it left Ecuador.

He did say that organised crime syndicates were increasingly targeting Australia via the South Pacific.

"This is the fourth vessel since 2010 targeting Australia, so that's a total of 1.1 tonnes of cocaine on four yachts that have been stopped from reaching the shores of Australia."

Topics: cocaine, drug-offences, crime, tonga, australia

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