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AFP tries a new line in quest to find huge cocaine haul’s Australian connection

AFP detectives are keen to track down the seized cocaine haul's intended recipient. <i>Photo: AFP</i>

AFP detectives are keen to track down the seized cocaine haul's intended recipient. Photo: AFP

Police are asking the public to play the sleuth and help identify the intended recipients of a 700-kilogram cocaine shipment seized on a container ship in Port Botany.

Authorities estimate the haul has an estimated street value of $280 million, but they are at loss to explain where the dug cache’s individual bricks carry a variety of enigmatic markings.

Forensic examination identified different emblems on the bricks, including the numerals 5 and 365 and the word Netflix, the agencies said.

Anyone with information or suspicions is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Australian Border Force officers found the drugs on July 22 while inspecting containers on the vessel Maersk Inverness.

The cocaine was packed into 28 denim bags, each holding about 25 kilograms in brick form, the AFP and ABF said in a statement on Saturday.

Significant blow

AFP Detective Inspector Luke Wilson said the ship, which has been allowed to continue its journey, had stopped at ports in Central and South America before making its way to Australia.

Insp Wilson said the interception of the drugs would be a significant blow to what was likely a well-resourced criminal syndicate.

“We are still investigating where the drugs were loaded and who was planning to collect them in Australia,” he said.

“The AFP estimates this seizure has saved the community more than $451 million in drug-related harm.”

ABF Detained Goods NSW Superintendent Joanne Yeats said the seizure showed the technical expertise of officers who detected the cocaine.

She said the agency had disrupted the criminal network’s supply and “stopped this large shipment of cocaine from entering our community”.

-AAP

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