A North Korean captain and three officers arrested after a dramatic high seas chase were found not guilty yesterday of smuggling heroin worth US$122 million into Australia.
Their freighter, the Pong Su, was seized in a commando operation by elite troops and police after a four-day chase by the navy up the east Australian coastline north of Sydney in April 2003.
Police said they had evidence that 150kg of heroin had been off-loaded from the freighter while it was anchored off Lorne, west of Melbourne, in the south east state of Victoria, and taken ashore in a rubber dinghy.
Police alleged the drugs were loaded on to the Pong Su at the North Korean port of Nampo. North Korean defectors and analysts later claimed that the Pyongyang government was likely directly linked to the smuggling attempt.
But after more than seven months of evidence and 10 days of deliberations, a Supreme Court jury in Melbourne found the men not guilty of aiding and abetting the importation of a commercial quantity of heroin.
The ship's captain Man Sun-song, 65, its political secretary Dong Song-choi, 61, first mate Man Jin-ri and chief engineer Ju Chon-ri, both 51, had pleaded not guilty to the charge that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The accused men's lawyers said their clients were not aware heroin was on board the ship and the prosecution case was built on speculation and a lack of evidence.
Outside the court chief engineer Ju Chon-ri said he was pleased with the verdict and was looking forward to going home.
"I'm very happy to be free. Yes, we are going home, it's good, good," he said.
Defense lawyer Nick Pappas said: "We're very happy with the verdict obviously, and all the ac-cused are very pleased to be freed after nearly three years in custody."
"They've got a visa as such, and they're walking down the street, so we might go and have an Australian beer with them," he said.
Defense lawyer John O'Sullivan said the men would not be de-ported, but he expected they would go home within days.
Prosecutor John Champion refused to comment on the verdict as he left court.
Champion had argued the four men were part of a sophisticated international heroin smuggling operation on the 106m Pong Su.
It was revealed after the verdict, however, that four men -- including one who brought the drugs ashore in a dinghy -- had pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling heroin, the national AAP news agency said.
Reporting of their cases had been suppressed until after the trial of the officers.
One of two men taking the heroin ashore in a dinghy died in the treacherous waters and part of the consignment of drugs was lost, but 125kg were seized by police.
The dinghy survivor was left to fend for himself and police found him the following day hiding in dense shrub, the prosecution said.
Three other men, known as the "shore party," who had been under surveillance by police, were caught later.
All four pleaded guilty to heroin smuggling before the trial of the officers started last August, but reporting of this was suppressed until the end of that trial.
Two of the men have been sentenced to 23 and 22 years in jail, while the other two are awaiting sentencing.
Twenty-seven crew members from the Pong Su were freed in March 2004 after a magistrate ruled the case against them was too weak to go to trial.
A US expert on North Korea and adviser to the US Congress, Raphael Perl, told national television after the arrests that up to a billion US dollars was raised annually by the North Korean government through illegal means.
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