Two senior crew members have appeared in court in Australia after a massive haul of cocaine was recovered from a supramax bulker last month.
About 850kg of the drug was found on the 58,000-dwt St Pinot (built 2018) at Kwinana Bulk Terminal in Western Australia (WA).
The haul, with a street value of at least $325m, was one of the country’s biggest ever.
The West Australian reported that the ship’s master, Milan Begovic, and chief engineer, Radovan Vujicic, both from Montenegro, appeared before Perth Magistrates Court on Friday.
They were charged with importing a commercial quantity of the illicit substance.
Australian Federal Police found suspicious packages submerged in a water-filled ballast tank.
Divers retrieved 28 large packages wrapped in blue plastic from the water and another package was retrieved once the tank was drained.
Each of the 29 packages contained numerous one-kilogramme blocks of drugs.
The Marshall Islands-flag bulker had arrived from South America.
The vessel is owned by Shamrock Maritime of Monaco, which has not commented.
On 24 May, police had assisted the crew of a 10-metre cabin cruiser in distress near Rottnest Island, about 22km off the coast of Fremantle.
Three men were on the boat, named ‘No Fixed Address’.
Law enforcement suspicions were raised after it emerged the cruiser had been purchased using cash a day earlier, just hours before it was taken out to sea, and accounts of the trio’s trip seemed suspicious.
The men also appeared to have limited boating experience and allegedly told police they had engine trouble.
It is believed they would have picked up the drugs from the bulker.
These men have also been arrested.
