{"id":618792,"date":"2026-04-20T08:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618792\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T08:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T08:28:11","slug":"police-unearth-200-kilograms-of-cocaine-aboard-catamaran-sailing-along-aussie-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/618792\/","title":{"rendered":"Police unearth 200 kilograms of cocaine aboard catamaran sailing along Aussie river"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A NSW man has been charged over an alleged drug importation plot after 200 kilograms of cocaine was unearthed aboard a catamaran sailing near the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/queensland\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Queensland\">Queensland<\/a>\ufeff-<a href=\"https:\/\/www.9news.com.au\/new-south-wales\" target=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"NSW\">NSW<\/a> border.<\/p>\n<p>The catamaran had sailed from the Tweed River on April 14, travelling north before turning its transponder off, police said.<\/p>\n<p>Police will allege the vessel picked up the drugs at sea before sailing back towards the coast and turning its transponder back on as it returned to the Tweed River.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/9bdc7867-a912-4419-a3da-4adfde0891bc.jpeg\"   alt=\"Police have charged a man after 200 kilograms of cocaine was unearthed aboard a catamaran sailing on the Tweed River, near the Queensland&#xFEFF;-NSW border.\"\/>The catamaran was towed to a secure location, where it was searched and examined by specialist forensic officers. (Nine)<\/p>\n<p>It was intercepted by NSWPF Marine Area Command operatives on April 16 as it sailed into the Tweed River, just south of the Queensland border.<\/p>\n<p>The catamaran was towed to a secure location, where it was searched and examined by specialist forensic officers.<\/p>\n<p>Police will allege about 200kg of cocaine was hidden inside black duffel bags on board the catamaran along with $100,000 in cash.<\/p>\n<p>Police discovered the stash as part of an investigation into \ufeffan alleged international plot by a bikie syndicate to sail cocaine into Australian waters before using smaller vessels to bring the drugs to shore.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/81dca055-1c52-4ab3-bf8c-ece8bc3ae5cc.jpeg\"   alt=\"Police have charged a man after 200 kilograms of cocaine was unearthed aboard a catamaran sailing on the Tweed River, near the Queensland&#xFEFF;-NSW border.\"\/>Police will allege about 200kg of cocaine was hidden inside black duffel bags on board the catamaran, along with $100,000 in cash. (AFP)<\/p>\n<p>Australian Border Force Superintendent Jim Ley warned would-be criminals that border and law enforcement agencies were working together to protect the community.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This amount of cocaine would have meant more addiction, more crime, and more violence in our communities.,&#8221; Ley said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our message to organised crime is clear: we are watching, we are working together, and we will stop anyone who tries to bring illicit drugs into Australia.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/9b4dfd8e-9e83-4607-a370-1c8b9ce3b3fc.jpeg\"   alt=\"Police have charged a man after 200 kilograms of cocaine was unearthed aboard a catamaran sailing on the Tweed River, near the Queensland&#xFEFF;-NSW border.\"\/>Police are not ruling out further arrests as they work to determine who else was involved in importing the drugs. (AFP)<\/p>\n<p>The discovery triggered investigators to execute multiple search warrants across southeast Queensland and northern NSW. \ufeff<\/p>\n<p>Police are not ruling out further arrests as they work to determine who else was involved in importing the drugs.<\/p>\n<p>A Tweed Heads man, 41, was charged with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.<\/p>\n<p>He was \ufefffaced the NSW Bail Division Court on April 17, where he was formally refused bail and remanded to appear before the same court on June 12.<\/p>\n<p>If found guilty, the man could face a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A NSW man has been charged over an alleged drug importation plot after 200 kilograms of cocaine was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":618793,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-618792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/618793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}