Meet Ur Planet

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Plane boarding
  • Tourist guide
  • Hotel accommodation
  • Travel booking
  • Vacation rentals

Meet Ur Planet

Header Banner

Meet Ur Planet

  • Home
  • Plane boarding
  • Tourist guide
  • Hotel accommodation
  • Travel booking
  • Vacation rentals
Plane boarding
Home›Plane boarding›Superyacht operator Jimmy Blee arrested in Cairns Queensland over Newcastle NSW cocaine bust

Superyacht operator Jimmy Blee arrested in Cairns Queensland over Newcastle NSW cocaine bust

By Meg P. Sousa
May 12, 2022
0
0

A superyacht tour operator and diving expert has been arrested while allegedly trying to leave the country after a diver died while trying to recover $20million worth of cocaine hidden in a ship’s hull.

Workers at the port of Newcastle in New South Wales found the unconscious diver in the water at 9.30am on Monday surrounded by floating blocks of cocaine after the drug smuggling operation went tragically wrong.

On Wednesday, Jimmy Blee, 62 – who runs North Queensland Superyacht Marine and Tours from Cairns – was arrested by Federal Police as he tried to board a flight to Singapore on Wednesday.

The father-of-three, who has an Indonesian wife, is set to be extradited to NSW on Friday to face charges of importing a large border-controlled commercial amount of drugs and a large commercial drug supply.

Blee organizes luxury yachting, fishing and diving trips around Indonesia, North Queensland and the Whitsundays, and offers an advisory service to other yacht owners and operators.

Jimmy Blee, 62 (pictured here with his wife and children) was arrested by police as he tried to board a flight from Cairns to Singapore on Wednesday

Jimmy Blee, 62 (pictured here with his wife and children) was arrested by police as he tried to board a flight from Cairns to Singapore on Wednesday

Jimmy Blee is well known to local yacht operators in Cairns

Jimmy Blee is well known to local yacht operators in Cairns

He is a well-known figure to local yacht operators and unsuccessfully applied to be part of the 2019 Australian Survivor series after appearing in a Malaysian paint advertisement in 2013.

In his audition tape for Survivor, he jokingly claimed to have lived in his garden for 10 days in preparation for the series, surviving on a diet of rainwater and worms.

In several interviews about his business activities, he boasted of his network of experienced divers.

“We have slowly developed a formidable team of ‘Top Gun’ dive experts who work exceptionally well as onboard dive guides,” he said of his dive trips in the Papua region in Indonesia aboard the luxury charter boat Amandira.

His website adds: “With 25 years of experience and contacts in Asia, Jimmy has a network that stretches far and wide.

“Also an avid diver, Jimmy has logged over 3,000 dives, the majority in eastern Indonesian waters.”

His website says he runs a fleet of 150 “foreign-flagged vessels”, including working with the $93 million Mayan Queen and the $55 million Achilles superyachts.

Jimmy Blee organizes luxury yachting, fishing and diving trips around Indonesia, North Queensland and the Whitsundays

Jimmy Blee organizes luxury yachting, fishing and diving trips around Indonesia, North Queensland and the Whitsundays

A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a diver who was trying to recover $20million worth of cocaine from the hull of a ship in Newcastle

A man has been arrested in connection with the death of a diver who was trying to recover $20million worth of cocaine from the hull of a ship in Newcastle

Blee was arrested following investigations by Strike Force Groove after the body of a diver and 54kg of cocaine were found in the port of Newcastle, NSW on Monday.

The dead man was wearing technical diving equipment – which allowed the diver to operate without leaving a trace of telltale bubbles – when he was found unconscious in the water by dockworkers at 9.30am on Monday.

Dock workers and paramedics desperately tried to save the man, but he died at the scene. The diver is believed to be a foreign national from South America and police are trying to contact his family overseas.

A sealed bag of cocaine blocks was found near his body and several other yellow-sealed drug blocks were found floating nearby.

Detectives believe he was part of a drug smuggling operation that used ‘old school’ tactics rarely employed by modern drug syndicates.

Police divers inspected under cargo ship Areti. Gr Majuro and found the huge shipment of cocaine in her sea chest – which is normally filled with seawater – inside the hull.

The ship had arrived on Sunday evening after a month-long voyage carrying soybeans from Argentina. Two small boats were seen near the ship moored in Newcastle on Sunday evening.

It is believed that the drug cartel had started the operation to recover the drugs when the diver got into trouble and was ruthlessly left to die by his associates.

Police divers are pictured during a recovery operation after a diver was found dead near a massive cocaine transport

Police divers are pictured during a recovery operation after a diver was found dead near a massive cocaine transport

A scene aboard one of Blee's superyachts posted on his Facebook page

A scene aboard one of Blee’s superyachts posted on his Facebook page

A massive interstate operation involving NSW and Queensland Police, Australian Federal Police and Australian Border Force officers led to Blee’s arrest on Wednesday.

His business associates declined to comment, but another superyacht operator in Cairns admitted he was shocked by the news.

“It was a well-trained professional group, comfortable sending drugs on a ship across the world,” said Detective Superintendent Rob Critchlow of the NSW Police Organized Crime Squad.

‘They knew exactly what they were doing. “These people fled, so it’s pretty disgusting that this man was left to die no matter what he was involved in.”

He added: “NSW Police and our partners have known for some time that the Port of Newcastle is a drug shipping port.

“There have been indications in the past of [bikie gang] around the docks, and we’ve worked very closely with our partners to get them out of the system.

The body of a man wearing tech scuba gear (pictured) washed up in a busy port, with police suspecting he was trying to bring $20 million worth of cocaine ashore using smuggling tactics 'to the old” seldom seen by modern drug syndicates.

The body of a man wearing tech scuba gear (pictured) washed up in a busy port, with police suspecting he was trying to bring $20 million worth of cocaine ashore using smuggling tactics ‘to the old” seldom seen by modern drug syndicates.

“But it’s still a risk point because any port has a lot of movement – so a lot of ships, a lot of trucks, a lot of people, so it’s easier to hide drugs among that.”

A police spokesperson added: “Investigations under Strike Force Groove are ongoing.”

Related posts:

  1. Will the coronavirus kill the queue?
  2. Did Kamala Harris simulate boarding the plane? The truth behind the viral photo with a lookalike near the stairs against a green screen
  3. Random boarding on plane minimizes risk of COVID-19: study
  4. The fastest way to board a plane

Categories

  • Hotel accommodation
  • Plane boarding
  • Tourist guide
  • Travel booking
  • Vacation rentals

Recent Posts

  • ‘Humiliated and traumatised’ – Disabled woman says she had no assistance at Newcastle airport which caused flight to be delayed by 90 minutes
  • 5 Best Emergency Loans for Bad Credit & Same Day Approval No Credit Check in 2022
  • The role of a dispatcher
  • Our bodies, our societies and our planet are inflamed for the same reasons.
  • If you think flying sucks now, here’s the double-decker airplane seat

Archives

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • September 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • June 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • April 2013
  • September 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2011
  • June 2009
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions