NZ Customs find triggers $9.45m cocaine sting

Sharp-eyed Customs officers in Auckland and a transtasman forces' sting have led to a multimillion-dollar haul of cocaine and the arrest of a father and son in Sydney.

Michael Anderson, 28, and John David Anderson, 66, appeared in court yesterday charged with attempting to import and conspiracy to import a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug.

Both were remanded in custody.

The pair were arrested on Wednesday after about 27kg of cocaine with a street value of $9.45 million was seized on the MV Tampa and its sister ship, the MV Taronga, both bound from New Zealand to Australia.

Police began tracking the men in June after 18.3kg of the drug was found in a metal pod attached to the hull of the Tampa after it arrived in Auckland from South America.

The drugs and pod were removed from the ship by Customs officers.

A joint statement yesterday by Australian and New Zealand Customs and Australian police said the Tampa was monitored as it continued to Australia, where police identified several suspects. Late last month, New Zealand Customs searched the Taronga in Auckland and found 8.7kg of cocaine concealed in the same way as the earlier shipment.

They replaced the cocaine with another substance and reattached it to the ship, allowing the surveillance operation that led to the arrests.

Authorities said the same people they had linked to the drugs found on the Tampa had also been identified by officers monitoring the Taronga.

There was no suggestion the ship's owners, Norwegian shipping line Wilh. Wilhelmsen, or its employees were involved in the alleged drug importing racket.

New Zealand Comptroller of Customs Martyn Dunne said the arrests showed what could be achieved through transtasman co-operation between border and law enforcement agencies. "They have done a truly excellent and thorough job."

The Tampa hit headlines in 2001 when it rescued 433 asylum seekers from a sinking Indonesian ferry but was barred from landing them on Australian territory.

- AAP