Cops shoot captain of boat that dropped cocaine in Australia
The captain of the mother ship which fled Australian waters after offloading a record 1.8 tonnes of cocaine near Lord Howe island to a smaller boat has been shot.
Australian police said the 45-metre vessel was picked up near Noumea a few days ago and ventured into waters owned by Papua New Guinea who dispatched a navy boat to intercept it.
It's understood the officers from the defence ship attempted to shoot out the satellite navigation instruments of the fleeing chinese boat when a bullet ricocheted hitting the captain.
"Funny, when it was boarded there was no fish. no fishing equipment and the boat didn't even have a name,'' said a law official.
The boat was used to allegedly import 1900 1kg blocks of cocaine worth more than S600 million dollars which was loaded on to red trawler, the "Coralynne" which had departed from Newcastle.
On August 15 the NSW police launch Nemesis boarded the boat and arrested three men, two from NSW and a Chinese national.
It is also alleged an attempt was made to set firetto the trawler before it was extinguished and towed back to Sydney where the drugs were allegedly discovered.
The three have been charged with a raft of charges relating to the illgeal importation of a prohibited drug.
The captain is in Kavieng hospital with a gunshot wound to his buttocks.
Originally published as PNG police shoot captain of boat which dropped cocaine in Australia
