Four Fijians are among six men jailed in Western Australia for their roles in a failed attempt to retrieve 2.4 tonnes of cocaine.
Isaac Henry Rabuatoka, Filipe Valesu and Laban Saininaivalu and William Seru were sentenced by the Perth District Court on Friday after pleading guilty to attempting to possess cocaine with intent to sell or supply.
The operation, described by the prosecutor as a “comedy of errors”, ended with arrests in December 2022 after police seized the substituted drug packages at Hillarys Boat Harbour, north of Perth.
“This was a shambles, it was a disaster,” said Judge Linda Black during sentencing.
“All of you were fools who got in way over your heads.”
The cocaine was initially intercepted by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) off the coast of South America, with intelligence suggesting it had been shipped by a Mexican cartel bound for Australia.
In a joint operation, Australian authorities dumped over a tonne of plaster-of-Paris-laced packages into the Indian Ocean off Perth, then lay in wait.
The Fijian nationals and their accomplices were tracked as they attempted to retrieve the fake drugs using two vessels, Catalina and Cool Runnings. But the retrieval effort quickly descended into chaos.
The Cool Runnings, operated by Saininaivalu, Seru, and Reremoana-Kahui Patrick Stanley, ran aground near Moore River. Unwitting members of the public tried to help push the boat back into the water, unaware it was loaded with fake narcotics. Police then swooped in.
The second boat, Catalina, tried to tow the stranded vessel but later struck a rock wall at the harbour after its only qualified skipper, 70-year-old Paul Masterson, failed to board due to back pain.
Authorities arrested the men soon after they attempted to stash the supposed cocaine in Bunnings eskies.
The four Fijians involved in the plot had travelled from interstate and the Northern Territory. None were based in Western Australia. Prosecutor Michael Cvetkoski said the group were “puppets” manipulated by cartel “puppeteers” operating from higher up the drug trafficking chain.
“These men took all the risks and now face the full penalties,” he told the court.
Valesu was sentenced to 11 years, Rabuatoka and Masterson to 10 years, Stanley to eight years, Seru to six years, and Saininaivalu to five years.
