Melbourne:
A tip-off from US authorities led to the seizure of more than 1,000 pounds (460 kilograms) of cocaine transported to Australia from South America, Australian Federal Police said on Thursday.
The third-largest cocaine seizure in Australian history could have earned more than 160 million Australian dollars (159 (m) million US dollars) on the street, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told reporters.
"This is a very sophisticated operation. They knew what they were doing and they had good equipment. It's possible that they've done this before but that will all form part of the investigation," Colvin said.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration tipped off police last week that a catamaran carrying cocaine was headed for Australia from South America.
After two days of helicopter surveillance, a catamaran and another vessel were spotted on Friday nearly 500 miles (800 kilometres) off the eastern coast.
They were trailed until the yacht docked at Brisbane's Scarborough Marina.
Colvin said the cocaine had apparently been offloaded from the catamaran to the yacht.
The drugs were seized on Tuesday and three Australian men were arrested.
Two were charged with the attempted import of cocaine and the other with possession.
The catamaran was intercepted at sea by an Australian Customs and Border Protection boat on Wednesday and is being towed to Brisbane.
Two people on board, believed to be from Costa Rica and Germany, have been detained, Colvin told reporters.
According to Home Affairs and Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor the operation had also yielded 12 search warrants in two Australian states and uncovered a drug lab in Eden, New South Wales.
Police are still investigating where the drugs came from and from which South American port the catamaran departed.