During a major operation in international waters, law enforcement officers from New Zealand found a record-breaking quantity of cocaine drifting at sea that was headed for Australia and would have been enough to supply the nation for a year. The greatest drug bust in country's history involved the seizure of 81 bales of cocaine that were hidden at a floating transit point in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
New Zealand Police said it a statement it had collected the drugs in a joint operation with the New Zealand Customs Service and the New Zealand Defence Force. A police photo showed the haul, apparently before recovery, in a net supported on the ocean surface by floats.
The New Zealand Police shared the images of the recovered packets of cocaine on its Twitter handle.
"This is one of the single biggest seizures of illegal drugs by authorities in this country," Police Commissioner Andrew Coster said in a statement.
"While this disrupts the syndicate's operations, we remain vigilant given the lengths we know these groups will go to circumvent coming to law enforcement's attention."
The seizure has a value of NZ$500 million ($320 million), according to New Zealand Customs Service Acting Controller Bill Perry.
"There is no doubt this discovery lands a major financial blow right from the South American producers through to the distributors of this product," Coster said.
"While this disrupts the syndicate's operations, we remain vigilant given the lengths we know these groups will go to circumvent coming to law enforcement's attention."
(With inputs from agencies)
