High Seas Part 3 – 95kg Cocaine Haul On Cruise Ship – 3 Arrested.

Some people just never seem to learn. I’ve blogged several times about drugs being smuggled on cruise ships and people being arrested, most recently concerning a relatively small amount (see previous blog High Seas Part 2) but this, this is Tony Montana territory.

3 Canadians on Princess Cruises Sea Princess have been arrested by Australian police with 95kg cocaine. Andre Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberce, 22 had been travelling on the Sea Princess for nearly two months but upon arrival in Sydney were immediately taken into custody and charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug.

Close to 95kg of the narcotic were found by the police during a search of the passengers’ cabins when the vessel docked at Sydney harbour on 28 August and going by the Global Drug Survey 2016 which puts the average price of a gram of cocaine in Australia at £150 ($197), the quantity of the drug seized would be worth £14,250,000 ($18,708,112)!

The cruise ship that began its tour from Britain in July, made its way to Canada, the United States, and various parts of South America, including Colombia and Peru before heading for Auckland and then Australia. Police have not confirmed at which port the man and two women boarded the ship or from where the cocaine was procured.

On Monday 29th August they appeared before Sydney’s Central Local Court where they were formally denied bail. They are expected to remain in jail till their next hearing on 26 October and according to the Australian Federal Police, could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner Clive Murray stated that the accused were part of an international drug syndicate. “These syndicates should be on notice that the Australian Border Force is aware of all the different ways they attempt to smuggle drugs in our country and we are working with a range of international agencies to stop them,” he said according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

The women were posting updates of their exotic travels on Instagram prior to their arrest, pictures show the friends in New York, South America, London and French Polynesia.

I wonder if the inside of an Australian jail cell will seem quite so exotic.

Police are always quick to publicise such seizures and rightly so, but it does make you wonder exactly how many people don’t get caught.

All comments welcome.

Bye for now.