By Colombian naval forces intercepted a cocaine-laden semi-submersible vessel in the Pacific Ocean headed for Australia, revealing what officials say is a new trafficking route exploiting the world’s highest-paying cocaine market.
The wooden and fiberglass vessel, stopped 1,200 miles southwest of Clipperton Island, had sufficient fuel to reach Australia, where cocaine commands up to $240,000 per kilogram — six times its U.S. street value, according to Colombian security forces.
Vice-Admiral Orlando Enrique Grisales said this marks the third such vessel intercepted on the Australia route, suggesting traffickers have established direct maritime paths to the country, which leads global per-capita cocaine consumption ahead of Britain, according to OECD data.
“The first was discovered in Colombian waters, and thanks to the maps it carried, we identified the route,” Grisales told reporters. “That’s when we began working with Australian authorities.”
The interception came during Operation Orion, a multinational naval effort that seized 225 tonnes of cocaine and arrested more than 400 people across several countries in six weeks. The vessel had departed from Colombia’s port of Tumaco before its interception.
“They are organised crime networks joined together,” Grisales said, describing connections between South American and Oceanian trafficking organizations uncovered during the operation. Colombian President Gustavo Petro commended the navy for the successful operation.
