Who was the diver who died while trying to extract 50kg of cocaine?

New information has emerged about who the diver who died when he tried to fish 50kg of cocaine out of the river was.

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On 9 May, an accident occurred in Newcastle, Australia, in which a man died while diving using a rebreather. The case attracted a lot of attention from the police and the media because 50 kg of cocaine was found at the scene. As a result, investigators were able to establish who the diver was who died on the banks of the River Hunter.

Who was the diver who died in Newcastle?

According to information reported by Australian media, the deceased man is 31-year-old Brazilian Bruno Borges. The victim’s body was identified by his friends and employees of the Brazilian embassy. It turns out that the man was a professional diver and a specialist in working at height.

According to the version of events adopted by investigators, Borges arrived in Newcastle because he had been hired to extract drugs. The cocaine cargo arrived in Australia attached to the hull of the bulk carrier Areti GR, which had arrived from Argentina. It is highly likely that the 50kg of drugs found was only part of the smuggled cargo.

New South Wales police also said that a second diver from Brazil was also involved in the entire operation. Investigators identified him as 32-year-old Jhoni Fernandes Da Silva and issued an arrest warrant for him.

Arrest of another accomplice

It turned out that shortly before the accident, Bruno Borges and another man had travelled from Indonesia to Darwin, Australia. They were assisted by 62-year-old Jimmy Blee, a diver and tour operator on a luxury superyacht. Blee and the accident victim were recorded by CCTV at a dive shop where they were buying advanced diving equipment. As you can see, the whole story is starting to form an increasingly coherent whole.

Police arrested Jimmy Blee when he tried to board a flight to Singapore two days after the incident. He had purchased a single ticket and had more than £20,000 in cash in his luggage. The man was charged with drug smuggling on a substantial scale but pleaded not guilty.

According to police officers from the organised crime department, the group attempted to extract a total of 300 kg of cocaine from the water on May 9. So far, officers have recovered 104 kg of the drug.

Sweden is famous for its historic wrecks, and one of them is the magnificent Bodekull. You will read more about it in issue 19. the DIVERS24 quarterly magazine! The digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can buy in our online shop.