Couple Sentenced to 13 Years in Jail Over $121 Million Cocaine Haul From Townsville Yacht

A French couple have been sentenced to 13 years in prison after pleading guilty to retrieving almost 500 kilograms of cocaine hidden inside a yacht at a marina in Townsville, Queensland.

Rachid Kachour and Matthieu Rees pleaded guilty in the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane to possessing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug. The pair were sentenced to 13 years each, with a non-parole period of five and a half years.

The court heard the men travelled to Townsville in May 2023 after being instructed to recover drugs concealed inside a yacht that had arrived from the South Pacific.

Once at the marina, they allegedly used a drill to cut into the yacht’s hull, where they found hundreds of packages containing cocaine. Over several days, they removed the drugs, transported them to a safe house in a hired van and then attempted to repair the damage to the vessel.

Commonwealth prosecutor Jacob Robson told the court that at least 484 kilograms of cocaine had been recovered. The cocaine had a reported purity of 80.6 per cent and an estimated street value of approximately A$121 million.

The prosecution said the men were not accused of being involved in the original importation of the cocaine. Instead, their role was described as subordinate: they were recruited to retrieve the drugs and were paid approximately A$300,000 for their involvement.

The court heard that the pair initially did not know exactly what type or quantity of drug they would be collecting. However, prosecutors said that once they discovered the cocaine, they knowingly continued with the operation.

The yacht had attracted the attention of the Australian Border Force after arriving in Queensland from Vanuatu in April 2023. Authorities restricted its movement, but the court heard that the vessel was not kept under continuous surveillance while it remained at the marina.

When police returned to inspect it in July, they discovered that the yacht had been disturbed and that the concealed drugs had been removed. Investigators subsequently used marina records and CCTV footage to reconstruct what had happened.

Justice Peter Callaghan described the lack of surveillance as concerning, noting that hundreds of kilograms of cocaine had subsequently made their way into the community.

Both men had spent more than three years in custody since their arrests and had no previous criminal records, according to evidence presented to the court. One of the men is a permanent Australian resident and could face visa cancellation and deportation to France after completing his sentence.

The case highlights the scale of the cocaine shipment and the role of the two men in retrieving drugs that had been concealed inside a vessel arriving in Queensland.

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ABC News — Couple sentenced to 13 years jail over $121 million cocaine yacht haul