Australian Police Find Cocaine Hidden in Cruise Ship Passenger’s Cabin

The Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force reported that a cruise ship passenger was charged in court on Monday, March 17, after they discovered a cocaine smuggling operation. The passenger reported to be a Brazilian national was charged with a failed plan to smuggle 10 kg of cocaine into Australia.

The arrest took place in Sydney on Saturday, March 15, with the Australian Border Force reporting they found a concealed package hidden in a ceiling cavity of the man’s cabin. The package was found to contain 28 individually wrapped packages of cocaine. Searching the cabin, the police reported they also uncovered body packing material which drug couriers use to conceal drugs when crossing borders and security checkpoints hidden in the ceiling cavity and in the wardrobe.

The report did not identify the cruise ship only saying that it was arriving from Argentina. Three cruise ships were due in Sydney on Saturday, Royal Caribbean International’s Ovation of the Seas and Princess Cruises’ Royal Princess, which are sailing cruises around Australia, and MSC Cruises’ MSC Magnifica which is on a world cruise. It called in Brazil and Argentina in late January and made stops in Chile and French Polynesia before arriving in Australia.

Cocaine was found concealed in a ceiling cavity aboard the cruise ship along with material to smuggle it ashore (AFP and ABF)

“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," said ABF Superintendent Matt O'Connor.

The Australian Federal Police were alerted to the discovery and took the passenger into custody. They reported a search of his cell phone found evidence related to the drug trafficking.

“This amount of cocaine could have been sold in the community as 10,000 individual street deals of 1 gram for about A$3 million (US$1.9 million),” said AFP Detective Superintendent Kristie Cressy.

This is the first report from Australia of drug smugglers attempting to use a cruise ship. In 2022, Spanish police reported arrests of smugglers attempting to pose as passengers on two cruise ships crossing the Atlantic from South America. French police in 2023 also reported a large bust as Brazilian drug couriers booked as passengers attempted to carry cocaine off a cruise arriving from South America.

The individual appeared today in an Australian local court. He was charged with possessing border-controlled drugs and attempting to import them into Australia.