Pong Su

The Pong Su incident began on 16 April 2003 when heroin was smuggled from the Pong Su, a North Korean cargo ship, onto an Australian beach. Australian military special forces subsequently boarded the Pong Su in Australian territorial waters four days later. The ship was suspected of being involved in smuggling almost 125 kilograms (276 lb) of heroin into Australia with an estimated street value of A$160 million.

The Pong Su (봉수호) was a 349-foot (106 m), 3,743-tonne North Korean-owned ocean freighter registered in Tuvalu, a flag of convenience. Three men arrested on shore were convicted of importing heroin; a fourth man from the ship who landed the heroin and was arrested on shore pleaded guilty; the crew were all acquitted and deported; and after being confiscated the ship was destroyed in 2006.

Operation Sorbet was an Australian police international trafficking operation that had been conducting surveillance on two persons who had entered Australia in March 2003 from China and a third person on 9 April from China on tourist visas.

On the night of the 15 April 2003, Australian Federal Police (AFP) conducted surveillance on two persons who rendezvoused with the Pong Su close to shore at Boggaley Creek near the seaside town of Wye River in Victoria and followed them to a nearby hotel. The next morning, the two suspects were apprehended with two packages containing 50 kg of pure heroin after leaving the hotel. A third suspect was also arrested later that day in nearby Geelong.

The following day, in a search of the beach at Boggaley Creek, police discovered the body of a man of East Asian appearance covered by seaweed close to a dinghy who had been part of a two man landing party from the Pong Su. The deceased man has never been identified. The dinghy had suffered fuel problems in the surf and had capsized landing the heroin and drowning one of the crew. Victoria Police apprehended the second man from the landing party in the immediate area the same day. He had been unable to get back to his boat and simply remained in the area where the drugs came ashore the night before. The AFP stated that they had been working on Operation Sorbet for several months including with international peers. A further 75 kg of heroin in three packages was later discovered buried near Wye River in May 2003 after subsequent searches following coordinates from a seized GPS device. An additional, 25 kg package of heroin had been lost during the landing.

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Wikipedia