A cruise passenger has been detained and charged with drug smuggling on arrival in Australia.
A Brazilian national, 48, appeared in court charged with importing and possessing border-controlled drugs.
He is alleged to have been found with about 10kg of cocaine in 28 individually wrapped packages which were hidden in the ceiling cavity of his stateroom, the Australian Border Force said.
The ship docked in Sydney at the weekend. It had sailed previoulsy from South America.
Federal Police said they later found evidence on his phone of communications with alleged drug traffickers.
“Drug traffickers are motivated by greed, they do not care about the harm they cause,” Police Det Supt Cressy said.
“This amount of cocaine could have been sold in the community as 10,000 individual street deals of 1 gram for about $3 million.”
ABF Superintendent Matt O’Connor added: “The cruising season brings with it additional opportunity for criminal syndicates to attempt to smuggle illicit drugs into the country, however Border Force officers are very attuned to their pivoting tactics.”
The man could face life in prison if convicted.
