Australian police seized the country’s largest haul of cocaine aboard a fishing boat that had broken down near the coast of Queensland, arresting 13 people alleged to be part of a drug-smuggling syndicate.

Australian police seized a record 2.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects' boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said Monday.

Australian police have seized a record 2.3 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects’ boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said. The drugs had a sale value of 760 million Australian dollars (£388 million) and equalled as many as 11.

Australian police have arrested 13 people in what authorities described as the largest-ever cocaine bust in the country’s history. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Monday that they had charged 11 men and two juveniles after tracking a fishing boat that allegedly travelled to meet a mother ship loaded with cocaine off the coast of Queensland.

Police have made the largest cocaine seizure in Australian history following an investigation into a transnational organised crime syndicate accused of conspiring to import more than two tonnes of the drug into Australia.

The amount of cocaine allegedly attempted to be imported weighed the same as a Ford Raptor ute, estimated to have a street value of $760 million.

A plot to import the largest amount of cocaine ever into Australia, weighing the same as a Ford Raptor ute, has been shut down by police.