Multimillion dollars worth cocaine seized from a wrecked-yacht in Pacific ocean with decomposed body

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16 Nov 2012

by admin

Interpol and Narcotic agencies from four countries are hunting for a yachtsman who left a yacht in the Pacific waters after it ran a ground with an estimated $ 140 million worth of cocaine on board.

The wrecked-yacht was discovered nearly 10 miles north of Tonga’s main island this week with 204-one Kilo blocks of cocaine and a decomposed body.
The second yachtsman has left the wreck in August this year and the hunt is on across four nations. It is suspected that he would have fled to Ecuador.

The Yacht was discovered by a group of divers when they were exploring the area. The decomposed body was removed to capital city of Tonga for an autopsy to be conducted to determine the cause and the time of death.

The Yacht had originated from Ecuador and was destined to Australia with illegal contraband. Narcotic agencies believe the luxury yacht with three staterooms and with a capacity to sleep six was used by drug-runners and suspected to be registered in France with the name JeReVe”-I Dream in English.

The drugs were discovered in the hull of the yacht.

The Report Below appeared on a Tonga Newspaper.
More than 200 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated street value of AUD $116 million dollars in Australia, was seized by Tongan authorities on the wreck of the ‘JeReVe’ yacht that ran aground on a reef off Luatafito Atoll in Vava’u. Police believe it to be one of the largest seizure of narcotics in the South Pacific region.
In a joint press conference by the Deputy Prime Minister Hon Samiu Vaipulu, the Tonga Commissioner of Police Grant O’Fee and Superintendent Murray Taylor of the Australian Federal Police this afternoon, it was revealed that the drugs were concealed within the hull of the 13-metre yacht.
They said that AFP received information from the US Drug Enforcement Agency during August 2012 that a small yacht carrying cocaine enroute from Equador to Australia, and an investigation started.
In a statement they said that earlier this year, the AFP, Customs and the US DEA formed a specialised project to examine a number of identified vulnerabilities in the South Pacific exploited by international organised crime syndicates.
The yacht was in the waters near Cook Island and the project partners engaged with the Cook Islands Police through the AFP’s international network. An extensive search in the region by Cook Islands Police maritime specialists and enquiries across the Pacific Transnational Crime Network were launched to locate the yacht. It was later discovered off a small atoll in Tonga.
“The AFP continues to work with Tonga Police at the crime scene, with the investigations into the death and attempted yacht drug importation ongoing.”
Body
Police Commissioner O’Fee said they were still working on how to dispose the drugs, which will be brought to Tongatapu.
He said a badly decomposed body of a man, believed to be a palangi, was found behind the helm in the yacht and they do not know whether he died before or after reaching Tonga or if there were other people on board.
“A Post mortem examination to determine a cause of death will be completed this weekend and we will continue investigation into the unexplained death,” he said.
AFP forensics officers and Australian forensic pathologists are assisting Tongan authorities on this.
On November 7, two divers spotted the yacht on the reef, and they discovered the body.
In Tonga, Superintendant Murray Taylor said it was a significant seizure by international standards. “In terms of the Pacific [islands] it is probably one of the largest, if not the largest in the Pacific itself,” he said.