More blocks of cocaine have washed up on Australian shores and two more discoveries have been made, bringing the total quantity seized by police in the past week to 124kg.
The most recent discovery occurred on Boxing Day at 5.30pm when a member of the public discovered 39 sealed bricks each containing 1kg of cocaine in the Newcastle Ocean Baths.
Earlier on Tuesday, a fisherman at Barrenjoey Headland near Sydney's northern beaches found a blue barrel containing another 39 individually wrapped parcels.
Police arrived on the scene and sent the package for testing, with initial results indicating cocaine.
Further searches along the coast on Saturday uncovered a further six packages on beaches stretching from Newcastle to Sydney, including Manly Beach, Avoca Beach and Blacksmiths Beach.
At this time it is unclear where the cocaine came from.
More packages believed to contain individually wrapped kilos of cocaine have been found on the NSW coast
NSW Police have warned the public not to touch suspicious items on beaches and to contact them immediately if anything is found.
“Investigators are now urging anyone who may have seen packages similar to the image to contact their local police.”
'The packages recovered to date showed significant barnacle growth covering the outer plastic packaging.
“Police would like to warn the public against removing or opening the packages.”
Officers said they are working closely with Surf Life Saving NSW to search the state's beaches.
However, on social media it seemed that the police warning to leave well enough alone fell on deaf ears or at least was not taken very seriously.
“Wow, I'll take a closer look at some of these tomorrow morning when I'm metal detecting. That will make for a wonderful Christmas,” one person wrote.
“So it's a white Christmas on the northern beaches?” said another.
“Damned wrong beach. I told them Freshy! (Freshwater Beach),” a third joked.
“Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,” wrote another.
Police have seized 124kg of cocaine that washed up over the past week, including this package at Newcastle Ocean Baths
Last year, Sydney was unveiled as the cocaine capital of Australia.
The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission's (ACIC) National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program found that Sydney's sewers contained the highest amounts of cocaine residue in the country.
In December 2021, the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research discovered a post-Covid record of 275 people arrested for cocaine possession statewide.
The majority of cocaine-related arrests in Sydney were made in the city's CBD and eastern suburbs, along with Randwick and Waverley.