Drugs fugitive caught after 90-mile jet ski chase at sea

A BRITISH man on the run over a drug offence was arrested after fleeing 90 miles on a jet ski from Australia to Papua New Guinea, armed with a crossbow.

Border police were tipped off that a man “carrying additional fuel and supplies” had been seen launching the jet ski from the Cape York Peninsula, in the northernmost part of Queensland, on Monday.

Officers from three different police agencies gave chase in an Australian Border Force vessel, pursuing the jet ski across the Torres Strait.

After making it through the chain of islands, the 57-year-old – named locally as David James Jackson – was eventually arrested on mudflats just a few miles short of his apparent destination on the Papua New Guinea mainland.

Officers only caught up with Jackson, who is accused of a drug offence in Western Australia, when he stopped to buy more fuel on the eastern side of Saibai Island.

The crossbow which he was reported to have been carrying throughout his journey was nowhere to be seen.

His escape bid began when he drove his car into the ocean and unloaded a jet ski on Monday morning. A witness told the local Courier Mail: “He was just going to leave his car in the water and make a dash for it. He was suspicious from the get-go.”

Jackson will face one count of possession of methylamphetamine with intent to sell or supply, and possession of stolen or unlawfully obtained property when he appears at Cairns magistrates’ court tomorrow.

Jackson had been on the run for a month after pleading guilty to the drug offence in Western Australia.