JOSEPH Pirrello, the former managing director of Seafish Tasmania, the company responsible for bringing the controversial super trawler FV Margiris to Australia, has been arrested as part of Australia’s largest ever cocaine haul.
Pirrello was amongst 15 men to be arrested following the drug haul which seized an estimated $360 million in cocaine, according to a report on the ABC.
Another Tasmanian commercial fisher James Colin Collins of fishing company Lorjona was also arrested in relation to the drug bust.
Both men have faced court and have been refused bail and will appear in court early in the new year.
Super trawler FV Margiris was the second largest commercial fishing boat of its kind in the world when the Federal Government banned trawlers over 130 metres from fishing Australian waters. This paved the way for the recently departed 95-metre Geelong Star to take its place.
More to follow.
