Barnacle-encrusted 1kg packages of cocaine wash up on Australian beaches

PACKAGES stuffed with more than 124 kilos (273lbs) of cocaine have washed up on Australian beaches over the Christmas period.

A batch of 39, 1kg bricks of the Class A drug were discovered last Friday near Magenta Beach, north of Sydney, police said. Another 85 packages of the same size have since been spotted along a 50-mile stretch of the New South Wales coastline.

Authorities warned the public not to touch the “barnacle-encrusted packages” if they came across them.

“Detectives and specialist police are currently combing beaches and coastlines for any outstanding packages and working behind the scenes to make sure we find and hold accountable those responsible,” said Det Ch Supt Jason Weinstein. The latest discovery came on Tuesday afternoon when a member of the public found 39 sealed bricks, each of which allegedly contained a kilo of cocaine, at Newcastle Ocean Baths.

Earlier in the day, a fisherman at Barrenjoey Headland off Sydney’s northern beaches came across a blue barrel with another 39 individually wrapped packages inside. Each of the parcels allegedly contained a kilo of the drug.

The incidents took the total amount of cocaine discovered on New South Wales beaches in the past week to 124kg, according to police.

Officers have seized all packages and are subjecting them to forensic examination in a bid to determine their origin.

Mr Weinstein, the director of the New South Wales crime command, said: “We thank those who have heeded the warning to report any suspicious packages to police as we get to the bottom of this matter and we remind people that being in possession of a prohibited drug is a criminal offence,” he said.

Australia has the worst cocaine habit in the world, with more than 4 per cent of adults in the country consuming the drug, according to research from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

The discoveries in south-eastern Australia came after New Zealand seized a record-breaking 3.2 tonnes of cocaine, worth more than $300 million (£235 million), after it was found floating in the Pacific Ocean in February.

The drugs were thought to have been destined for Australia given that the haul was large enough to supply the much smaller New Zealand market for around 30 years, according to authorities.