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On January 23, 2023, NSW Police received an anonymous tip that a bulk carrier from Brazil was arriving in Newcastle with a package of illicit drugs, concealed as a parasitic attachment on the hull.
The same day, a member of the public reported spotting two men using diving equipment and seabobs at Swansea to Crime Stoppers.
The witness said the seabobs appeared to have a black tow harness with shackles and weights on either side.
The carrier itself docked in Newcastle the next day, January 24, 2023, only to be searched by federal and NSW police officers as well as Australian Border Force officers.
Divers retrieved six waterproof duffel bags hidden in the hull.
The bags contained 80kg of packages which tested positive to cocaine.
On January 25, 2023, witnesses on a ferry reported seeing two men in the water at Newcastle harbour.
Police arrested the men when they returned to shore and carried out a search warrant on their vehicle, seizing items ranging from diving gear, to passports, to bolt cutters.
The subsequent investigation revealed the two men had flown into Brisbane from Denpasar, Indonesia, on January 17 and 18.
They purchased two seabobs worth $56,000 on the Gold Coast, a scuba set in Nelson Bay, and tools from a Newcastle hardware store.
Their phones revealed the men had discussed the logistics of retrieving the cocaine from the bulk carrier in an encrypted app group chat titled “Finding Nemo”.
The court heard that was what the men had been trying to do in the water.
Both seabobs were later found fastened to a pier pylon in the Hunter River at Newcastle.
Both men pleaded guilty to trying to import a commercial amount of cocaine.
The AFP estimated the seized narcotics were worth $26 million, or about 400,000 street deals.
A 53-year-old man was sentenced yesterday to nine years and 11 months in prison, with a non-parole period of four years and 11 months.
A 35-year-old man was previously sentenced on March 13 this year to 10 years and two months in prison, with a non-parole period of five years and nine months.
