An alarming discovery off the coast of Australia has exposed a worsening problem on our shores, one authorities say is a “serious threat that can’t be ignored”.
Seventeen tonnes of illicit drugs, mostly cocaine, have been seized by local and international law enforcement in the Pacific this year, the Australian Federal Police revealed this week.
That’s more than three times the amount seized across the whole of last year.
Most of the illicit drugs being trafficked to, and through the Pacific, are destined for Australia, the AFP says.
“It’s become a serious national security threat for the Pacific and Australia. It is a threat the AFP cannot ignore,” AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said this week.
‘Impossible to stop’ drugs coming into Australia
Sophisticated crime cartels have been trafficking cocaine into Australia for 40-odd years, Ben Mostyn, drug policy expert and deputy director of the Sydney Institute of Criminology, told Yahoo News.
But despite efforts from Australian and international law enforcement, the amount of cocaine now being seized has skyrocketed.
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How drugs are trafficked through the Pacific into Australia.
(Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP))
“It is almost impossible to stop drugs coming into Australia with any efficiency,” he said.
“Cocaine is very popular in Australia and very expensive… so it just seems obvious that market forces from Latin America will start sending more and more cocaine to Australia”.
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He said drug smugglers will use “anything and everything” to get their deliveries across borders, so ramping up our border security will have little to no impact on drug importation.
“The vast majority of drugs already enter the country despite four decades of increasing policing, longer prison sentences, more surveillance, and stricter border procedures,” he added.
How do cartels traffic drugs into Australia?
Commissioner Barrett said the increase is partly because “greedy and ruthless narco-gangs are trying to make more money” by identifying new ways to traffic illicit drugs.
The use of semi-submersible vehicles to cross the Pacific is one example.
A fishing vessel was previously intercepted near French Polynesia. Source: Marine Nationale/AFP
The narco subs used by cartels are low, narrow vessels which can carry up to five tonnes of cocaine at a time.
According to recent data from ACIC, sea cargo makes up less than 1 per cent of detections but 44 per cent of cocaine importation by weight.
“This would suggest it is an effective way to smuggle as it allows large consignments with a low risk of detection,” Mostyn said.
Three narco subs, some with markings showing they were made in Colombia, have reportedly been found in the Solomon Islands in the past two years.
Australia urged to help Pacific Islands fight war on drugs
With the illicit drug threat to the Pacific “exponentially increasing”, Australia has a “moral responsibility to act,” Commissioner Barrett said.
“Australia should be helping build resilience in Pacific communities,” Mostyn agreed.
This week from May 18 to 22, the Fiji Police Force and the AFP are co-hosting the Pacific Transnational Crime Summit in Fiji to strengthen regional cooperation on transnational crime.
The summit is being held in partnership with the Pacific Transnational Crime Network, which includes crime units in 21 Pacific Island countries.
Mostyn said Australia should ensure that its war on drugs “does not cause crime and corruption in our smaller neighbours”.
“We should consider regulating global cocaine drug markets, as Colombia is considering, to increase stability in our region,” he added.
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