Crew members of an Australian navy ship line up on deck. Australian sailors have been stashing large amounts of cocaine and heroin on navy ships and selling them in Sydney's red light district, a report has claimed.
Australian sailors have been stashing large amounts of cocaine and heroin on navy ships and selling them in Sydney's red light district, a report has claimed.
An unnamed source told public broadcaster ABC that the racket involved kilograms of the drugs and had been going on "for years". The report comes as the military and police probe an alleged drug ring at the navy's Sydney base.
The source said ships recently returned from Pacific Rim war games in Hawaii with packages of drugs, adding that dozens of sailors were involved with 30 personnel testing positive on just one ship.
"(For) 99.9 per cent of the time, Customs don't bring (sniffer) dogs onto the ship... and dogs can't get down into certain parts of the ships," the source said.
"It's junior sailors, it's senior sailors. That's why no one will talk to you," the source added.
On Tuesday, the Australian Defence Force said steroids and unidentified substances had been seized in recent raids after a tip-off. Police are also investigating an alleged drug ring.
The revelation came after media reports that sailors were operating a trafficking ring from the Garden Island base in central Sydney, which is near the notorious Kings Cross nightclub area.
Australia's military has previously acknowledged related problems, revealing in June that nearly 600 personnel had been caught taking illegal drugs and steroids in the past five years.
The figures were released after an Australian commando was airlifted out of Afghanistan for treatment after a drug overdose. Australia has about 1,550 military personnel based in the country's south.
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