A "sleepy" Australian seaside town made international headlines this month when a capsized boat was dragged to shore full of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.
It was one of the biggest shipments uncovered in Western Australia since the 1990s.
According to a witness who was taken aback by the presence of armed police, Peaceful Bay — population 70 — looked like a scene out of the US television crime series CSI.
Earlier on February 1, and a little further along the southern West Australian coast, a story had blown up about the rescue of three "fishermen" who had held onto an esky in "perilous" waters off Albany after their boat capsized.
Alex Williams, south coast commander for Volunteer Marine Rescue WA, said it was rare people were pulled from that part of the ocean alive.
"Quite often, that's unfortunately not the outcome," Mr Williams told the ABC.
AFP keen on recovering boat
But what appeared to be a good news rescue story, then took a major turn when the Australian Federal Police asked the volunteer marine group for assistance in finding the vessel.
Mr Williams soon got the feeling something wasn't quite right.
He said with no people still onboard the vessel, the volunteer group couldn't partake in the activity under their operating guidelines.
"So, after that we thought it was sort of done and dusted … forgotten with the expectation the boat had gone to the bottom of the ocean," he said.
Mr Williams said some boats sunk off the south coast had ended up on the east coast of Africa, so he wasn't expecting to ever lay eyes on the vessel.
Vessel spotted by abalone diver
Then the upturned bow of the vessel was spotted about 10km east of the settlement of Peaceful Bay a week later – more than 100km west of where it capsized.
The abalone diver, who asked not be named from fear of potential retribution, said he was surprised to see a vessel because he hadn't seen any other boats pass him that day.
"We thought it was pretty strange and we got a closer look and realised it was the front of a boat bobbing up and down," he said.
"The boat was pretty wrecked, there were bits and pieces hanging off it everywhere, like wires and the radio."
Speaking publicly for the first time, the man revealed how the whole thing felt "eerie".
He radioed into sea rescue and reported the boat.
"I jumped back in the water to finish working and had a call from Walpole police to check the rego," he said.
By the time he finished diving and returned to shore, the sea rescue volunteers had towed the boat to land and he could see close to a dozen police officers canvassing the beach.
He said they closed the beach but some locals and visitors were gathered nearby – curious about what was unfolding.
"It was bustling for Peaceful Bay that afternoon," he said.
"Pretty big news for Peaceful Bay I think, a pretty sleepy old town there."
The abalone diver, who has faced sharks before, said the experience was "definitely up there" with some of the craziest encounters he's had at sea.
Police descend on quiet town
When Mr Williams arrived, he said police were looking to see if "anything had fallen off the boat".
"Once the boat was recovered and in the Peaceful Bay shed for security, I think then that's when they actually found the packages," he said.
It later came out that a day earlier a package full of cocaine had washed ashore in Denmark.
Mr Williams said Peaceful Bay was a town full of holiday shacks that traditionally belonged to farmers.
He said it was essentially a one-shop town.
"There's no big population until it comes to Christmas or New Years," he said.
He said he can't remember there being this much action at the idyllic village in decades.
"I don't particularly watch TV crime dramas but if you think of something like the CSI programs out of the United States, it was probably like a scene out of that — there were people with their federal police badge on their chests," he said.
Cocaine not produced in Australia
Mark Briskey, former federal police officer and associate professor of criminology at Murdoch University, said bringing cocaine in from the south coast was not as common as importing it via the east coast or the north-west West Australian coast.
"Drug-traffickers, if anything, are imaginative," he said.
The former transnational crime investigator said it was difficult to tell the street value of the cocaine without analysing its purity.
"Even on a rough estimate of a million dollars a kilo, there's a tremendous profit margin in that amount of cocaine," he said.
He said he'd seen similar sized hauls but only ever in places like Pakistan.
Mr Briskey said cocaine was not known to be made in Australia.
He said the coca plant, which is used to produce cocaine, was grown widely in South America, historically in places like Colombia, Peru and Mexico.
He said amphetamines were made in Australia, but cocaine and heroin were imported.
"It sounds very exotic but we know it's happening even from these failed importations," Mr Briskey said.
Drug shipment could be linked to cartel
Mr Briskey said it was hard to know whether the people who may have imported the cocaine had subcontracted themselves, invested in their own enterprise or were linked to a larger enterprise.
"Historically, some of these enterprises involve people from multiple countries around the world," he said.
"Cartels or organised crime groups are primary actors in shipments involving significant logistics of transporting large amounts of drugs.
Are the rescued men in danger?
Mr Briskey said not enough was known to comment on whether those allegedly involved would be in fear of their life.
He said a major enterprise had gone "belly-up" and it was a significant commercial venture.
"We know the gangs or cartels are absolutely ruthless and there's been well over 160,000 people killed since the beginning of the century because of conflict between cartels and government," he said.
He said there were also legal punishments for anyone found guilty of a drug crime.
Search on for two men
Police still want to speak to two of the men who were plucked from the ocean on February 1.
Their names are Mate Stipinovich and Karl Whitburn.
Meanwhile, another man, Aristides Avlonitis, has been extradited to Western Australia after appearing in court in the Northern Territory on Thursday.
He was arrested at a rural property and will face drug importation charges.
Mr Avlonitis remained in custody and will next appear in court in Northbridge on Saturday.
The Australian Federal Police have urged the men to report to their nearest police station and said anyone with information should contact CrimeStoppers.
