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More than $8 million worth of cocaine has been found onboard a ship at a major international port north of Adelaide.
The discovery of 23kg of what police believe to be cocaine was found on the ship docked at Port Pirie, 223km north of Adelaide yesterday, but police still don't know the origin of the drugs.
Crew who uncovered the suspicious packages contacted police who launched a major investigation with Australian Border Force and the Australian Federal Police.
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Detective Superintendent Billy Thompson said police were attempting to track down the source of the drugs.
"The discovery of this amount of cocaine is very significant, it is estimated that the street value of drugs would be in excess of $8 million," he said.
"If this amount of illicit drugs had successfully entered the drug market it would have no doubt led to significant harm to our community."
Members of the ship's crew are assisting police with their inquiries.
It is expected that investigators will remain at Port Pirie throughout today as they complete a full search of the ship.
