Photo: NZMEImporting nearly 24kg of cocaine into Northland was Plan B for an international drug smuggling ring after its original scheme to get the drugs into Australia on a cruise ship was busted across the Tasman. French national Alexander Steeve Yelengwe Yonkwa-Dingom was part of the syndicate involved in smuggling cocaine from South America to Australia using cruise ship passengers as drug couriers. They arranged for four others to be couriers on the cruise ship Astor that was due to arrive in Sydney on November 30, 2017. A plan was then hatched to hand Yonkwa-Dingom the cocaine once the Regatta arrived into the Bay of Islands in early December 2017. The two French nationals on board the cruise ship cleared Customs on arrival, looked for signs of trouble then returned to the ship and brought the cocaine to shore.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 09, 2019 03:11 UTC