Australians have the highest per capita usage of cocaine globally, followed closely by Britain, as per OECD data.
NSW Police issued a statement on Tuesday urging the public to report any suspicious packages, as investigations continue.
Since the first sighting of a package on the Central Coast, about 90km north of Sydney, just before Christmas, over 250kg of cocaine has been found along the New South Wales coastline. These packages have appeared on more than ten beaches spanning a 500km stretch.
Footage captured by a lifeguard showed one of the parcels being retrieved from the waves at Bondi Beach on New Year's Day. Most recently, another package was discovered on Valla Beach in March.
It remains unclear how these cocaine packages ended up in the ocean. However, authorities suspect they may have originated in South America and were transported to Australia via a cargo ship.
Detectives have noted that some of the retrieved parcels were covered in barnacles, suggesting they were in the water for no more than six weeks before being found.
Recent data from the national law enforcement agency indicates a significant increase in drug usage among Australians, with 16.5 tonnes of methamphetamines, cocaine, heroin, and MDMA consumed in the year ending August 2023 - a 17% rise from the previous year.
