By Patrick Decloitre, Correspondent French Pacific Desk
Authorities in French Polynesia have seized a record 524kg of cocaine on board a Spanish-flagged vessel.
Over 500 Kg of cocaine seized in French Polynesia Photo: OFAST
The operation on Christmas Eve was conducted by the French Navy Overseas support and assistance vessel Bougainville, in co-ordination with French Gendarmerie and the OFAST (anti-narcotics office), the French High commission said in a release.
The Australian Federal Police was also involved in what is described as an international intelligence co-operation.
The fishing vessel, identified as Raymi, was intercepted and boarded south of French Polynesia’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), about 700 nautical miles south of Papeete, with 14 crew members from Columbia and Ecuador aboard.
They have been remanded in custody pending a planned appearance before a local court, deputy public prosecutor Yann Hausner said.
A total of 524kg of cocaine was immediately found inside 11 packs.
It has not been established as yet where the vessel was heading.
The estimated street value of the seized shipment was around US$122 million (NZ$215m).
The Raymi was then escorted back to French Polynesia’s capital Papeete, where it was subjected to further searches.
“It’s the kind of operation for which we are also trained”, Bougainville Commander Mathieu Leman told local public broadcaster Polynésie La Première.
Pacific “drugs highway”
French Polynesia, as well as other Pacific countries and territories (such as Samoa, Fiji, Tonga), has been identified as a major transit point of the so-called “drugs highway” from North and South America (the United States, Mexico, Columbia, Ecuador, Panama) to major markets such as Australia, New Zealand and Asia.
In March 2019, another French Navy vessel, Prairial, in collaboration with the US Joint Interagency Task Force – South intercepted a fishing vessel off the coast of Nicaragua with 766kg of cocaine on board.
In the other direction, labs in South-east Asia are also using Pacific islands such as Palau or Papua New Guinea as transit points to ship opium-based and methamphetamines to the US market.
