The alleged disturbing discovery in a cruise ship passenger’s cabin that could put him in jail for life
A Brazilian cruise ship passenger has been charged with smuggling $3million worth of cocaine into Australia after the huge haul was allegedly found in his cabin.
Adriano Gustavo Leonardi Thiem, 48, was arrested when the liner arrived in Sydney Harbour on Saturday after departing from Argentina.
Australian Border Force agents boarded the cruise ship to allegedly find 28 individually wrapped packages of cocaine hidden inside the ceiling cavity of the man’s cabin.
They allege the packages amounted to about 10kg of the drug.
Agents also allegedly uncovered ‘body packing material’ in the ceiling and the wardrobe.
The materials are alleged to be the same as ones typically used by drug mules to carry cocaine across borders and through security checkpoints.
Border agents called Australian Federal Police after initial inspections of the substance allegedly returned a positive result for cocaine.
The AFP then reviewed the Brazilian’s phone and allegedly found evidence relating to drug trafficking.
A Brazilian cruise ship passenger has been charged with smuggling $3million worth of cocaine into Australia after the huge haul was allegedly found in his cabin
Australian Border Force agents boarded the cruise ship to allegedly find 28 individually wrapped packages of cocaine hidden inside the ceiling cavity of the man’s cabin
They charged the Brazilian with one count of importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, and one count of possessing a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border-controlled drug.
Both charges carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment.
AFP Detective Superintendent Kristie Cressy said the cocaine would have been worth about $3million to criminals.
‘Drug traffickers are motivated by greed, they do not care about the harm they cause,’ Det Supt Cressy said.
‘This amount of cocaine could have been sold in the community as 10,000 individual street deals of 1 gram for about $3 million.
Between 2022 and 2023 there were 985 cocaine-related hospitalisations nationally, more than two each day on average, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
ABF Superintendent Matt O’Connor said the arrest was the result of his officers ‘unrelenting’ focus on protecting Australia’s ports.
Adriano Gustavo Leonardi Thiem, 48, was arrested after the liner arrived in Sydney Harbour on Saturday after departing from Argentina (stock image pictured)
‘The cruising season brings with it additional opportunity for criminal syndicates to attempt to smuggle illicit drugs into the country,’ Supt O’Connor said.
‘However Border Force officers are very attuned to their pivoting tactics.
‘Our ABF officers process and border clear thousands of passengers and crew members on every international cruise ship which arrives into Sydney, and are ready to respond to any threat which may present itself.’
