Norwegian Divers Sentenced Over Thwarted Cocaine Plot

Two Norwegian nationals have been jailed in Australia for attempting to possess 80kg of cocaine smuggled in as a parasitic attachment on the hull of a bulk carrier.

A man, 53, was sentenced by the Newcastle District Court to nine years’ and 11 months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years and 11 months.

His accomplice, 35, was sentenced by the same court to 10 years’ and two months’ imprisonment, with a non-parole period of five years and nine months.

The men were charged as part of the AFP’s Operation Oakey which began in January 23, 2023, after the NSW Police received an anonymous tip-off that a bulk carrier from Brazil, due to arrive in the Port of Newcastle, was transporting illicit drugs.  

The same day, a member of the public became suspicious about two men using diving equipment and seabobs (underwater scooters) at Swansea, NSW.  The witness reported the incident to Crime Stoppers, saying the seabobs appeared to have a black tow harness with shackles and weights on either side.

The bulk carrier docked at port the next morning, and Australian Federal Police, NSW Police and Australian Border Force (ABF) officers searched the vessel. NSW Police divers retrieved six waterproof duffle bags hidden in the sea chest. Inside the bags, they found 82 packages, weighing about 80kg, which tested positive for cocaine.

Early on January 25, 2023, witnesses on a ferry reported seeing two men in the water in the Newcastle harbour.  

Police arrested the two men onshore in the area later that day and retrieved multiple items from the rocks and shoreline where they had returned, including a black climbing belt, diving googles with torches, a black flipper, diving bag, bolt cutters, diving gloves, pliers, and a pocket knife.

Investigators also executed a search warrant on their vehicle, seizing items including diving equipment, electronic devices, receipts, and passports.

The court heard the men had been diving at the bulk carrier in an unsuccessful attempt to find and retrieve the illicit drugs.

Investigations later found the pair had flown into Brisbane from Denpasar, Indonesia, separately on January 17 and 18, 2023, just a few days before the bulk carrier arrived in the Newcastle area.

On their drive south through NSW, the men purchased two seabobs worth $56,000 on the Gold Coast, a scuba set in Nelson Bay, and tools from a hardware store in Newcastle.

Forensic analysis of the men’s phones revealed conversations discussing the logistics of retrieving the cocaine from the vessel in an encrypted app group chat titled ‘Finding Nemo’.

AFP divers later found both seabobs fastened to a pier pylon in the Hunter River at Newcastle.

The men were each charged with one count of attempting to possess a large commercial quantity of a border controlled drug, contrary to section 307.5 of the Criminal Code (Cth). Both men pleaded guilty to the offence.

AFP Detective Superintendent Peter Fogarty said the cocaine, which had an estimated street value of $26 million, equated to about 400,000 street-level deals.

“Criminals view Australia as a lucrative market to sell illicit drugs, and will go to great lengths, even risking their own safety, to make a quick buck,” Det Supt Fogarty said.

“Divers hired by criminal syndicates are a cog in the wheel of organised crime, and they will be pursued and apprehended, no matter where they sit in a syndicate’s hierarchy.”