Dramatic cocaine arrest on high seas
A HUGE European drug bust has been linked to the seizure of 200kg of cocaine on a boat off the NSW coast.
Skipper Jake Hurkmans was arrested on March 11 after police surveillance secretly tracked his black fishing boat out of Port Botany.
It is alleged Hurkmans, from Adelaide, had skippered his boat out to a large container ship, the MSC Joanna, about 14 nautical miles off the coast.
Police allege Hurkmans collected 11 plastic tubs packed with 199 blocks of cocaine from the mothership and headed back to shore.
They intercepted Hurkmans’ black Surtees 750 boat and detained him.
It is understood NSW Police received a tip from authorities in Europe about the container ship that had departed Antwerp, Belgium, and that it may have had drugs on board.
The intelligence came after police in Belgium carried out a sweeping crackdown on organised crime that resulted in 17 tonnes of cocaine being seized and 48 arrests.
Belgian news outlets also reported that authorities had cracked the encrypted messaging service Sky ECC and intercepted a billion messages during the investigation.
Once the tip off reached police in Australia, investigators set out to identify the boat that would be tasked with
meeting the container ship. This method of transferring drugs between boats at sea is well known, Australian Federal Police commander Kirsty Schofield said.
“The transfer of illicit drugs at sea from a larger container vessel, we refer to as the mother ship to a smaller vessel referred to as the daughter ship is a well known methodology to law enforcement,” Ms Schofield said.
Hurkmans was allegedly spotted taking his boat out from Taren Point, through Port Botany and along the coast off the Royal National Park just before sunrise on March 11.
Vision from the dramatic arrest shows a police boat speed through the water to catch up with Hurkmans before yelling at him to “stop” and pointing what appears to be a machine gun at him.
Police allege the cocaine he collected had a street value of $90m.
The 27-year-old man was charged with drug importation and possession and appeared briefly in Central Local Court.