One of Australia’s most wanted persons, a Brazilian diver, may have been killed by a criminal organisation over his unsuccessful attempt to bring up to 300kg of cocaine into the nation.
In May, Jhoni Fernandes Da Silva, 32, and fellow countryman and diver Bruno Borges reportedly had the duty of bringing hundreds of kilogrammes of cocaine into the Port of Newcastle.
Borges, however, perished while attempting to remove the cache from the cargo ship’s hull.
This reportedly caused Da Silva to depart the scene, leaving his accomplice’s dead and 50 kg of cocaine bricks floating in the Hunter River.
Police sources have now informed the Daily Telegraph that they think there is a good likelihood that De Silva was also murdered in the botched operation.
That’s despite the fact that according to police sources, he could have managed to escape with at least part of the narcotics haul.
According to a police source who spoke to the publication, “If you’re a reputable criminal gang and you’ve got arrests, you wouldn’t leave loose ends dangling.”
Because of their ruthlessness, “there’s a fair likelihood they’ve dealt with him before he could be captured and spoke to us.”
Since then, Da Silva has not been seen; an Interpol notice was sent last week to foreign law enforcement organisations.
Both Borges and Da Silva are said to have been employed by smugglers to securely bring the cocaine into Australian beaches from Argentina as members of a “highly trained professional squad.”
With cocaine bricks wrapped in yellow cellophane all around him, Borges was discovered in the sea.
54kg more of the narcotic were found on the Argentinean ship Areti’s sea chest. Majuro Gr.
According to reports, the main cause of Borges’s death while attempting to recover the cocaine from a cargo ship’s hull was difficulties with his diving equipment.
Detectives think that the 54 kg of cocaine found in the river was just a portion of the initial consignment, which may have weighed up to 300 kg and is still mostly unaccounted for.
Detectives’ inquiries into the smuggling enterprise eventually resulted in the 62-year-old James “Jimmy” Blake Blee, a superyacht tour guide, being taken into custody.
Just two days after Borges and the cocaine were found, Blee was deported to NSW on a trip from Cairns Airport.
He had tried to go from the city in North Queensland to Singapore by plane, but was turned away at the airport.
He allegedly had a one-way ticket, had $17,000 in US cash, and another $12,000 in Australian currency.
The man told reporters at the airport that he “regretted the predicament I am in” after being charged with importing big commercial quantities of a substance that was under border control and a significant amount of drug supplies.
At the time, Blee apologised to his friends and family for the current circumstances he had caused them to be in.
“The legal procedure will reveal the outcome and what will happen, but the fact that it has reached this point, I am really sorry.”
“They are quite severe accusations, and I welcome the chance to defend myself in NSW court,” the defendant said.