A member of the public has found what is thought to be a brick of cocaine on Wollongong City Beach, the latest in a string of discoveries of suspicious packages along the NSW coastline.
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Wollongong resident Dr Rob Goodfellow was walking along the beach on Saturday evening with his cousin, who was visiting from Canada, when he saw an object wrapped in a thick, rubberised material in the wet sand.
Dr Goodfellow said the object was encrusted with at least a few months' worth of barnacles.
"At first, I thought it was an old fishing box - I'm always looking down and picking up rubbish off the beach so it's not unusual for me to find all sorts of things," he said.
"But as I removed the layers of rubber, I could see it a block of something white... pure white."
Having heard of other suspicious packages washing up on beaches north of the Illawarra, Dr Goodfellow then called police.
"Actually, I'm just too busy to spend the next 25 years to life in prison," he joked.
Police officers attended the scene straight away.
A surfer, Dr Goodfellow wasn't too surprised to find the package due to a north-east current - with other packages of cocaine washing up in Newcastle and Sydney recently, he said it was only a matter of time before it ended up in the Illawarra.
Police are at this stage unable to provide any details on the incident, although it is confirmed they have a report of the discovery.
It is the latest in a number of packages of cocaine that have washed up on NSW beaches in recent weeks.
About 170 kilograms have been found since Friday, December 22, 2023 on the Central Coast, Newcastle, and Sydney's northern and eastern beaches.
The first package was discovered on a Central Coast beach that Friday evening and was found to contain 39 individual sealed packages, which police suspected contained about 39 kilograms of cocaine.
More packages were discovered scattered along the coast in the days before and after Christmas, and in the first week of 2024 another package containing about 39 kilograms was found at Botany and a brick was found at North Bondi.
In a statement, NSW Police Force said State Crime Command detectives were working closely with local police, PolAir and Marine Area Command, as well as Australian Border Force and Surf Life Saving NSW, to seize any packages and determine their origin.
People are urged to report any suspicious packages to authorities and are reminded that possessing a prohibited drug is a criminal offence.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
