Australian authorities have played a major role in an international drug crackdown which netted 98 tonnes of cocaine in Central and South America.
There were more than 100 individual drug seizures and 43 arrests as part of Operation Tin Can which ran from November to December 2022, targeting criminals working in the maritime supply chain.
The shipping industry and law enforcement from 58 countries worked together on the international sting, which also resulted in the seizure of 314 kilograms of cannabis.
The operation was organised by Australian Border Force, the World Customs Organization and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
Australian and Colombian authorities together seized about 100 kilograms of cocaine from inside a shipping container.
One kilogram blocks of the drug were wrapped up in individual parcels and hidden inside the structure of the container.
More than 800kg of cocaine were seized from a truck intending to enter the container terminal by authorities from Costa Rica, while another 25kg were found hidden in a different container in Ecuador.
The ABF says organised crime syndicates are increasingly using shipping containers to traffic drugs with the help of corrupt port workers, who tamper with legal shipments by using insider knowledge such as the location of specific containers or the ability to co-ordinate threats.
ABF Commander Bjorn Roberts said port workers who helped criminals were a major concern for law enforcement around the world.
"Almost 100 tonnes of cocaine was detected and it is highly likely some of that would have been destined for Australia, had it not been seized," he said.
"This method of drug trafficking is not possible without the active involvement of trusted insiders in the maritime supply chain."
