Australian police are hunting two men in connection with a 365kg stash of cocaine worth £134million which washed ashore on the west coast.
The pair were among a trio who were found clinging to a container 10 miles off the coast of Albany, Western Australia on February 1.
After being brought to shore, Western Australian Police Force officers doubted the account of where the men had been fishing and how their vessel capsized.
A large stash of cocaine was later discovered in two separate locations by police officers.
One of the three men rescued, Aristides Avlontis, 36, was arrested on suspicion of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, the Australian Federal Police said.
Police are still searching for the two other suspects, Mate Stipinovich, 49, and Karl Whitburn, 45.
AFP acting commander Graeme Marshall issued an appeal to the public to help find the suspects, adding: “The interception of this amount of drugs would be a significant blow to a well-resourced syndicate, and prevents millions of dollars of drug profit from flowing back into the group to fund their next criminal venture or lavish lifestyles.
“The AFP estimates this seizure has saved the community more than $235million (£134million) in drug-related harm, including associated crime, healthcare and loss of productivity.
“Organised crime syndicates employ a variety of methods to try to smuggle large amounts of drugs into Australia without detection.
“We believe this amount of cocaine would have been distributed across Australia and not just in WA.”
After the trio were initially rescued, a black plastic bag washed ashore 33 miles west of Albany.
A day later a seven-metre boat was overturned 27 miles west of Denmark and was found to contain eight 40kg bags of cocaine wrapped in plastic.
One of Whitburn and Stipinovich are believed to be the owner of the vessel.
