Even more bricks of cocaine wash up on Australian shores. Now baffled cops have been forced to call in an expert to help solve the mystery

Police hire marine expert to help solve cocaine mystery Over 210kg of cocaine has washed up since December 22 READ MORE: Cocaine-mad Sydney celebrates the washing up of bricks of coke 

A marine expert will probe how long bricks of cocaine washing up on beaches along the NSW coast have been in the ocean before being picked up by beach-goers.

Up to 213kg of cocaine has been discovered on the coastline between Sydney and Newcastle since December 22, with 90kg of the drug found in the New Year.

The NSW State Crime Command have employed a marine expert to determine how long the tightly-wrapped packages have been floating in the ocean.

Detectives hope this will shed light on which shipment the drugs belong to, with stamps on the cocaine proving vital clues to which gangs may be involved.

‘They’re going to assess the barnacles to tell us how old they are, which then should give us an idea of how long the bricks have been in the water,’ a source told the Daily Telegraph.

The first barnacle-covered package, weighing about 39kg, was discovered on Magenta Beach, on the state’s Central Coast.

In the 48 hours that followed six more packages containing a total of 46kg of cocaine were discovered on beaches between Sydney and Newcastle.

Up to 213kg of cocaine has been discovered on the shoreline between Sydney and Newcastle, with 90kg of that found in the New Year (pictured is one of the packages)

Police have warned the public not to go searching for the packages as they will be charged with possessing a ‘large commercial quantity’ of narcotics (pictured, a package found on the Central Coast)

A further 39 bricks of cocaine were found on Boxing Day by a fisherman at Barrenjoey Headland, in Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

That same day another 39kg were found at the Newcastle Ocean Baths.

A package containing a kilogram of cocaine was then discovered by a lifeguard on New Years Day, about 1km off North Bondi.

Police have confirmed approximately 213kg of cocaine has been found on the Central Coast, Northern Beaches, Eastern Beaches, Newcastle, Wollongong and the South Coast since December 22.

The NSW State Crime Command has taken over investigations into who the packages were intended for and why they’re washing ashore.

Police are trying to link the bricks to known importations, with stamps on the packages a key clue as to which gangs the shipment may belong to.

Citizens have been urged not to treat the spate of discoveries as a ‘treasure hunt’, warning that anyone caught with one of the mysterious packages would be charged with being in possession of a ‘large commercial quantity’ of narcotics.

‘If someone is caught in possession of one of these bricks, it’s a large commercial quantity and that carries 25 years to life imprisonment, so its a significant penalty,’ NSW Police State Crime Command director Jason Weinstein said earlier this month.

‘We don’t know what the purity of that is just yet, we don’t know what is mixed in with that, there’s a whole range of unknowns.’

Anyone who comes across an object they suspect contains cocaine has been urged not to touch or open it and instead contact police.

While some of the tightly-wrapped bricks have washed ashore unharmed, others have been ruined by saltwater seeping through the packaging.

Investigations into how the cocaine ended up on Aussie shores are continuing with theories including the packages being thrown off a cargo ship or being dislodged from an anchor by ex-Cyclone Jasper.

One of the mystery packages of drugs is pictured washed up at Newcastle baths

A package containing a kilogram of cocaine was discovered by a lifeguard on New Years Day

‘We know syndicates will use a number of methods through shipping containers,’ Detective Chief Inspector Weinstein said.

‘Sometimes we do see where items are deliberately tossed into the ocean to be picked up by another vessel.’

The National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) found an average of 910mg of cocaine was being consumed everyday by one in 1,000 Sydneysiders, the highest level in the country.

In December, 2021, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research found a post-Covid record of 275 people were arrested statewide for cocaine possession.

The majority of Sydney’s cocaine-related arrests were made in the city’s CBD and eastern suburbs with Randwick and Waverley taking the bulk of the arrests.